I Work With Suicidal Farmers. It's Becoming Too Much to Bear

[mahatmakanejeeves]

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Happy #EarthDay.

Today, we at @newrepublic are launching a series of first-person stories told by regular folks who deal with the effects of climate change every day.

The first is Mike Rossman's story, as told to me.

Link to tweet

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I knew it was bad, but I had no idea it was this bad.

Blessings to this man who is trying to help.

[Locrian]

2. and I fear it will get worse

physics (climate change) doesn't argue with anyone or let up - it just continues
and the farmers are on the front line - economically etc

there are massive issues that will need to be addressed re climate change and how we continue to feed ourselves etc and *nobody* is doing anything about it

[Perseus]

3. I don't want to be a sinic on this but...

Two things:
1. I hope people learn from this, that they do their due diligence when voting. They should have recognized they were dealing with a con artist, by now they should also know the republican party DOES NOT work for them or anyone else who is not a billionaire...I mean, how much do they need to see to reach that conclusion? How many times are they going to fall for their lies? They really defeat the "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."...
2. It is so strange that people think about this to relax "We can spend some time shooting turkeys and feral pigs." Kill animals so that you can feel good? Maybe there is an over population, I don't know, in regards to these species and they actually contribute to the balance, but I know that if I killed an animal I would go home depressed, not relaxed...I am not criticizing people who do that, it is a different mindset, I understand that, but it is hard for me to understand.

I feel horrible farmers are going through this, but don't kill yourself, help get the crooks out of office, that is one of the things I would advice them to do. Let them know that if they kill themselves the bank and the repubs win, don't let the crooks win.

[panfluteman]

5. That's CYNIC!

[cvoogt]

10. it was the fonetik spelling

I think

[renate]

4. Trump is mentioned (briefly) in that article

I wonder how many farmers listen to right-wing radio as they spend all day alone in their tractors. So they're being fed lies, and hate, and they're depressed... what a maelstrom of horrible emotions many of them must spend their days in.

I blame right-wing media, more than Trump himself, for the fact that most farmers vote Republican. If they're isolated and all they hear is that to be a good American you have to vote Republican, what else are they going to do? They're working too hard to take the time to research the truth.

So they'll just keep voting for the people who are causing climate change and all the other problems in their lives. It's so sad.

[TheFarseer]

6. My dad who is a farmer says

Farmers are getting pissed off about tariffs and refineries getting exemptions to get around ethanol requirements. In addition, they want something done about healthcare (although they are seriously confused on who to blame for high premiums and deductibles). He says they still won’t vote for baby killers but will be more likely to stay home. Sadly, they are never going to get past abortion. It’s so God damn frustrating!

[calimary]

7. Well, if they'll stay home rather than vote for "baby killers", that's just as good.

Fewer votes for the CONS, then. Increases our chances of winning.

It's just really astonishing to me - how desperately some people want to control and subjugate women.

[safeinOhio]

8. Farmers were some of the first to support Hitler and

were the first to be sent to the Russian Front.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. Increasingly, it will be not just farmers as automation takes its toll....

with industry and retail, along with Wall Street's demand for increasing efficiency and sustained profits.

Sooner or later, working people always get the entire shaft......

[hunter]

11. I don't belong to the cult of the U.S. American farmer.

I'd pay taxes to buy them out and return their lands to some semblance of a natural landscape, places where wolves run free and the bison are mean.

I don't appreciate farmer work ethics. It's no wonder so many farm kids leave home, move to the big bad liberal cities, and never look back. My grandparents did that.

Maybe these farmers can buy a house with a garden in the city and find comfortable nine-to-five jobs. Maybe we could pay the older farmers comfortable pensions, against their hard-working anti-socialist will, if necessary.

Fields of GMO grain soaked in toxic chemicals are ugly biological deserts, as ugly as any strip mine.

That's what too many farmers and too many ranchers are doing. They are strip mining the earth.

Fuck factory farm dairy and meat.

Fuck the fuel ethanol industry too.

I'm sorry these farmers are sad, but lots of us have seen careers evaporate and been forced to find other work.

I'd make a terrible counselor for these guys.

I'm not much a fan of the back-to-nature Mother Earth News crowd either. So please, don't mistake me for any sort of conventional Democrat and use that against them.

The people with the smallest environmental footprints live in urban areas, don't consume grain-fed-factory-farm meat or dairy products, and they don't own cars.

(It's probably best not to ask me what I think of the automobile industry.)

[Boomer]

12. Just as any FYI on "shooting feral pigs"

Wild pigs are a scourge throughout the entire South and Southwest. They've mixed with Russian boars and the resulting hybrid is fearsome. They are not a native species and their populations are booming, to the detriment of native plants and animals. They are incredibly destructive to crops and forest land alike.

Hunting them is a blood sport -- and you may deplore those who enjoy that hunt -- but it's also a hard necessity in the region and barely making a dent on the problem. Think of them as kudzu with sharp hooves and tusks.

[NickB79]

13. Herds have been spotted up here in the Midwest too

As far north as Wisconsin and Michigan. If they have any Russian boar in them, they'll shrug off -30F winter's.