Oct 31, 2024
By Rick McNary
As I watch farm and ranch groups in Kansas respond with aid to those impacted by hurricanes Helene and Milton, I am reminded that farmers and ranchers have much to teach all of us about the value of community.
When I started writing about farmers and ranchers in 2015, I began to discover their hidden qualities that create value in quiet ways.
It is my opinion, after having traveled the world in providing food aid in disaster relief, that farmers and ranchers understand the purpose and value of creating a community.
Here are a few things I believe we can learn from them:
We need each other
Many of us build our idea of community around convenience; we associate with people who look like us, think like us and live like us because we feel more comfortable there. However, farmers and ranchers understand we need each other to survive. After a trip to a refugee camp near the Somalia border where I witnessed how the refugees depended on each other, I stopped my neighbor and gave him my keypad code for my house and told him to help himself to anything in the refrigerator, use the laundry if needed and take a shower anytime he wanted. Naturally, he looked at me like I had lost my mind. I chuckled and said I was trying to prove a point to both him and me; we don’t know what it’s like to need each other to survive. However, farmers and ranchers do. Numerous times I have seen fields of an ill farmer lined with harvesting equipment from surrounding farmers as they help one of their own.
They depend on Mother Nature
I believe there is a mysterious bond amongst them that ties them all together and that is their dependence on Mother Nature for their livelihood. While I look at the weather forecast to determine what type of apparel to wear, a farmer or rancher looks at a weather forecast as the determinant of whether their crops and livestock will make it to harvest. The drought in many parts of the region is devastating crops and livestock and, for farmers and ranchers, it can take years to recoup their losses.
They live with a global dependency
When I drive by a wheat field glowing gold in the setting sun or gaze upon cattle grazing on the lush Flint Hills, I see the beauty, unaware that what is going on in Ukraine or China impacts whether that farmer or rancher will succeed or fail. They live with a continued realization that we live in a global society and what happens a half-a-world away impacts their daily life.
They are an integral part of their local community
If you look closely, you will find farmers and ranchers holding positions on school boards, church boards, township boards, as well as leading Parent Teacher Associations and a myriad of other volunteer activities. They give back to their communities because they understand their communities need them to be engaged.
Their industry drives the economy of our state
Commerce is the backbone of any community, and in Kansas, the economic impact of agriculture is massive. According to the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s website, “Agriculture is the largest economic driver in Kansas, directly contributing $57 billion and 140,055 jobs to the economy. Including indirect and induced effects, agriculture and agriculture-related sectors have a total impact of $81.2 billion in output and 253,614 jobs. This impact translates to 14 percent of the state’s total Gross Regional Product and about 13 percent of the entire Kansas workforce tied to agriculture. Agriculture in Kansas is not just about growing crops and raising animals. The Kansas agricultural economy includes renewable energy production, food processing, research and education, agribusiness services, animal health and more.”
People have a natural desire to be connected to each other in the context of community and I believe there is no group that models that better than farmers and ranchers. Furthermore, their table is spread wide and long enough to welcome people who are not farmers or ranchers. I should know, for they have welcomed me and they would welcome you.