That’s the question we ask friends, neighbours, and ourselves every time another farmer chooses to end their troubled life. What would drive this smart, hardworking person to choose such a senseless end? Of the ten or more victims that I knew, that I called a neighbour; everyone was hurried along by added stress that in many cases was uncalled for. Some thought that their performance on the farm was not up to expectations of their parents or other family members. Some let problems with finances take control over better judgement. Sometimes interest rates skyrocketed far beyond what their financial advisors even thought of. Often the farm was liquidated after and many were surprised that the successful enterprise that the victim had built was worth far more than anyone had guessed. Sometimes an extreme drought or bad year could leave many farms scrambling in the fall for enough feed for the winter or not enough crop sales to pay back all the bills that are due.
Bureaucracy on farms has increased drastically in a decade or two. Environmental farm plans, laws, permits, and registers for everything from putting an ear tag in every animal, to hiring an agronome to tell you when, where, and how much manure to spread on a field; all can be very frustrating to a farmer who is the sixth generation to work the farm. Some of these laws were written two decades ago and both technology and climate change have made big changes to how and when manure could be applied.
2017 has been one of those very difficult years. Record breaking rainfall and flooding delayed spring planting, haying, and even spreading manure. If the farmer was enrolled in a crop insurance or stabilization plan, more bureaucrats were insisting that the farmer exchange his seed for shorter season, lower yielding varieties that were in very short supply because every farmer in the area was also trying to exchange some of his seed. I have met several bureaucrats who tried to make you feel very inferior even though that person had never farmed but had that “paper diploma” on the wall behind his desk. The fall of 2017 was very late for crops to mature for harvest (because of delayed planting in the spring), and most manure is spread after harvest. (A fall application of manure spread on corn stalk residue adds moisture, nitrogen, and bacteria which all aid decomposition of the corn stalks into compost.) Recently I overheard a conversation between a couple of agronomes who advise farmers on fall manure applications. These same agronomes apply for extended dates for manure spreading in difficult years like this. The bureaucrats were reluctant to extend the manure spreading dates, even though manure storages were full and had to be emptied or else they would surely overflow before next spring. The argument that the bureaucrat in charge of extended manure spreading date permits was; “it’s not legal to spread beyond the cut-off date in the fall” AND “it’s also illegal to allow the manure storage overflow and pollute ditches, streams, or lakes.” There was no consideration for the record rainfall, delayed planting, or delayed seasons that farmers experienced in 2017.
Many of these laws and regulations were never updated. Maybe because some politicians and bureaurcrats deny climate change? How much extra “stress” did this add to a farmer’s hectic life in 2017? If a neighbour has time to wave, smile, or have a little chat during this hectic stressful season; a few moments of your time might save a life.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
