Corporate America gives rural communities the shaft. Their corporate greed forces people to leave. For those who stay, they get a worse education and more resentment towards society.
I am one of those people. I got a worse education, but I was able to leave. I also have a conflict of interest. I grow seed for one of the largest seed producers in America, and while I am glad to do my part, it is also harming the community. I do this living in a city supplied by a water source who tried to sue watersheds to have less nutrient runoff. I am on both sides of the equation.
I would love to move back to where I grew up, but there are no opportunities for my talented wife to get paid for her skill level. Nor would I be able to do comedy, my A/V work, or volunteer in a wide variety of places.
I struggle with this decision every day, but I’m in a better position than most. Some people who grew up in a small town do not have this chance. They do not realize Corporate America is hollowing out the towns and not those, evil coastal, big city libs, and the media overlords. These corporations may be coastal, but not exactly what these people are being fed from the media they are consuming.
There used to be four farms on every square mile, and businesses in each town supporting these farms. More jobs, more employment. Unfortunately, the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer. Consolidation started happening and less and less people had access to living the American dream. The rich got the money, the equipment, and the land. Plus, mechanization hollowed out the need for more people on the farm. As more of the wealth falls under the few in the name of greed, less people in small towns want to stay. Better opportunities exist elsewhere.
These bigger farms lead to more chemicals and nutrients, less supervision on the land. The big farmers are trying to cover more and more land not giving each piece of land the respect it deserves. This results in worse water quality and affects every farmer and citizen living in town. This is the grain side.
Turn to the animal side and “Oh boy!” All those hog confinement buildings stinking up everything from miles away. Hogs crammed into confinement buildings with no ounce of care like a farmer from the past. Now the big hog farmers want to bring in more foreign seasonal workers because no American worker can legally be subjected to that low pay. I am not a lawyer, but those workers are getting hosed.
Farms are no longer the cute family striving away and caring for the land. The big honchos up top make the money whether an investment firm, large ag companies, or one rich dude. Not the people putting in the most work. Everyone deserves the wealth. Look at the county fairs. Walk around any of the animal buildings and there are less animals than fifteen to twenty years ago. Why? The money does not exist for a family to make a living farming and participate in these activities.
It makes me angry I cannot realistically move back to my hometown for financial and personal reasons. It also makes me angry all this land is not used to feed people in poverty and feed locals. Ultimately, the individual person should, but maybe with the government help, set aside a few acres to grow foods to feed those who are food insecure. Unfortunately, the incentive does not exist.
This next sentence is nothing new. Rural flight has gone on for the test of time, and the wealthy have never been richer. The playing field needs to be leveled. The rich individuals, businesses, and investment firms are not saving anyone. They have taken enough, and these small towns deserve more.
Our land and commodities grown off this land are like oil deposits and these rich entities are the oil barons. These barons deplete the resources while the ones who live there struggle to survive. I am in a good place, but I want others to be like me. I want people to live a good life and not live full of resentment. We are on this world together and we are on the same team. The more fortunate, Corporate America, need to give back and reinvest in the communities they rob. It is what we deserve.