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100 years and what has changed?I am starting with a trivia question this week. Who made the following statement and when? "The development and prosperity of country life is as important to the people who live in the cities as it is to the farmers. Increase of prosperity on the farm will favorably affect the cost of living and promote the interests of all who dwell in the country, and all who depend upon its products for clothing, shelter and food." Teddy Roosevelt said this, as he was campaigning for re-election as President of the United States in 1912. This, by the way, was after he organized the Country Life Commission in 1908. There was a huge concern about the hard life farm women were leading, and the accelerated migration of farm kids to the city and rural schools. It was this study that led to the beginning of Rural Free Delivery of mail to our homes in the country. President Teddy Roosevelt appointed a commission to conduct a comprehensive survey of the rural population to determine what could be done to improve the conditions of rural life. Liberty Hyde Bailey, Dean of Agriculture at Cornell, chaired the Commission. Over 550,000 people were surveyed and hearings were held at 30 locations. The Commission found that schools in rural areas were deplorable, rural people were socially isolated, roads were inadequate, communication was poor, farm credit needed to be improved, farm cooperatives were needed and the Extension Service was needed. This week, Frannie Siegel, Ph.D, Associate Director of the Illinois Rural Families program, joined me on my Rural Route radio program discussing the migration of rural kids to the city. We all know it is an issue today, but who of us would ever guess that it was a concern at the time when nearly half of all Americans lived on farms? I believe the most interesting thing that Dr. Siegel shared on the air was the result of a recent survey asking rural kids why they plan to leave their rural community. The most common answer was "because there is nothing to do." The same kids, in another format, were asked about the career opportunities that exist in these same communities, and they listed several, yet they had never really even considered them when thinking about a career. I lump this into the typical thinking that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Honestly, if we started worrying some about our migration to urban living in 1908, 100 years later we should be even more concerned about it, every single day. The urbanization of areas doesn't concern me near as much as the urbanizing of our thinking. Technology and the intelligence of the American farmer will always make up for the concrete that is covering up the tillable land. The true challenge in the rural areas today seems to be caused by a loss of community spirit that was prevalent when I grew up. This observation by Dr. Siegel led me into some soul-searching. You see, I grew up near Quincy, Ill., on a farm that had been in my family for five generations before me. In 1838 the first Loos migrated to Illinois from Germany. I left the area in 1988, always concerned that I should have stayed. It was this conversation that answered a lot of questions for me personally. Questions I didn't know I had until the show this week. I understand and support change. Only a fool thinks he can stop change but we should be able to interject our opinions and values into the change and have an input. I am not a proponent of paved roads and rural water systems. You show me any part of the country that has done that and I will show you that urbanization has followed. I must admit I was quite taken when reading about the 1908 movement and learned that some farmers shared the exact sentiments I just shared with you. Generally speaking, the 1908 Commission and the movement it spawned saw agriculture in an extremely favorable light. As is typical with rural fundamentalism, the Country Lifers ascribed to rural people; honesty, patriotism, simplicity and a moral and emotional tone far superior to that of urbanites. Keep in mind that Roosevelt used this as his platform for re-election in 1912 and got beat by Taft. However, 100 years later this still exists, and if we as parents will simply do a better job of explaining this to our kids, maybe we hold the solution to stopping the out-migration of our youth. Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com. 7/2/07
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