and everyone has been so anxious and depressed (the Dems that is). Now the farmers are sad too? Who did they vote for? They are the reason the Dems are anxious and sad and we voted for a govt that cares about people...if they are too stupid to realize it tough shit! I shouldn't have to suffer, lose my ACA and go bankrupt due to their willful ignorance and blind loyalty.

My closest neighbors are farmers. Black farmers.

None of us voted for that pig. Try not to talk about what you don’t know.

Take your broad brush and...find something else to do with it.

about the policies coming home to bite them I say tough! That applies to any profession and those who are unemployed or retired.

Don’t speak of things of which you have no knowledge. Smh.

but it is just too easy to slam them all. Ranchers around here vote Republican far more than farmers. I do not know why but it is the case in this state anyway. I cannot back that up with numbers though but from all the elections I have worked on and from those sending us out to try to make some inroads that is what they say.

Farmers understand socialism by their daily lives but they do not understand it politically. It should be easy to change politically but it isn't, at least for me. I have had little luck with those discussions but that does not mean they don't vote for Democrats.

So much broad brushing here by people who’ve never done a hard days labor in the sun or cold or rain.

n/t

What a true liberal. What a caring person. Such empathy for others that you know nothing about at all.

I voted for Hillary.

I don’t need your clapping emojis.

Help of any kind is in shorter and shorter supply.

Because this is a way of life where it's not just like getting another job or even govt financial assistance.

Farmers entire lives are based on farming. Even if they were given other opportunities the changes in their everyday living would be too much.

Work many jobs you go to work and then home. If you change jobs maybe you might have to move but most times you do when not working will be the same.

This may be why you see more suicides in this area.

Big Agriculture must be whooping it up when these farmers' lands go up for sale.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2018-04-04/family-farms-pushed-to-get-big-or-go-bust

Around here every corn crop is so uniform it is unreal. Soybeans as well. Everything is Round Up Ready and when everything dies for whatever reason, drought or glut, more and more move on and more and more land becomes uniform and poison.

It is hard out here in the best of times and I am a small timer.

Every time a farm bill comes up in Congress, the deck keeps getting more and more stacked against small farmers, making it nearly impossible to eke out a living. And when eking out a living no longer works, I imagine that suicide becomes more attractive for some.

this uniform GMO-chemical crap deadens the soul eventually, in combo with all the other factors. Then comes the suicide wave...

and it is no surprise. We are going to hit 101 this week, in June. We had 103 in May as a heat index. Where I am we are a bit dry but the wheat crops are devastated, so many farmers lost everything or nearly in the West. When you have to buy everything all over again every year these crop devastating years become life devastating.

Crops looking good.

I think I recall. Good for you! I had to be in another city today, MIL in ICU but doing fair. I looked on my phone for my local weather, well it was an index of 108 today but the temp at that time was only 92. It is going to be 102 tomorrow for the temp and the index looks to be even higher. My crop is already ruined, I grow brome hay and it is so short there are acres that will probably not even cut for bales. I guess it will not be any worse if it turns brown in the field. I have never seen that. Through all the big and little droughts I have never seen the brome turn brown in the field before it gets cut.

Like I said, I am a small timer with only 53 acres with some woods and some nice but getting smaller ponds. One crop and it was here when I bought the place. Now if I can just keep my goats and ancient horses alive in this I will just stop caring about my poor crop. My neighbor got less that 1/3 of what she got last year. Hope I can feed everyone on that.

Sending good wishes that your crops remain healthy and hopes for a good harvest.

One of the highest paying Jobs today is ,Farm Manager.

How DARE you trivialize suicide?

I adjusted. Suicide is stupid. No matter how bad things look.

do you have to pay your employer for your job? Farmers have to pay for seed every year now, then they have to pay for fertilizer, then they have to pay for the weed killers since they can't really farm the new seed like the old seed. They have to buy their own equipment, even when they do it as a co-op with the other nearby farmers and those things cost more than many people spend on a house. Upkeep is incredibly expensive too.

Just a point, I am not trying to argue about this at all. I understand what you are saying.

I have to pay for everything that creates my income.

And I appreciate that we are not arguing. I was just making the point that a LOT of people are living on the edge and DON'T commit suicide. Those that are contemplating it need help.

I did not know. My father was a self employed man who ended up employing people. We liked to starve some years because for some reason he feared the unions but kept pace with them so he could keep his people. Some years were mighty slim for us because of that. You could not talk about that to him, he was dead set. I have no idea how he voted since those things were never discussed.

The wheat crops are almost a loss this year, for many they are. You just cannot pay that much money every year when you lose. Even one year creates life altering changes for people who have a generational farm that they end up losing.

To me it is sad, I don't care who they voted for. This has been in the works for years with at least 16 years of Democrats in the presidency and enough in the legislature to have stopped this or at least altered it so it was not like this. Why do some Republicans vote against their own states farmers? Agribusiness. You cannot win with a small family farm for very many bad years with that.

I wish you years of gains and success. Much luck to you.

Link to tweet

I highly suspect many grain companies will not want their crops as they will have no market for them.

That’s when they will really start killing themselves...or even worse...”go postal”.

If they do sell, it will be half the market price then their crop will immediately be shipped to Canada and remarketed at full price to the Chinese.

when they realize that the Republicans have taken away their health benefits and that they are going to die earlier as a result.

That tax bill will eventually cause the unnecessary deaths of millions of Americans.

Uber killed the business. My dad made his living driving a big yellow checker. We lived in a nice house in a leafy borough, and my mom didn't need to work. We went on vacations, my parents paid for college and weddings, and when it was time to retire, my dad sold his medallion and my folks used the proceeds as their nest egg.

https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/after-6th-suicide-cabbies-call-city-hall-stop-deaths

I have a son who drives Uber because there is little else available to him right now. The wave of the future I guess. This is so sad. I am not adjusting well to these changes.

I spoke of my father above, we had all that too but nearly starved some years but we still had all that and 2 cars. The hard years, the slim ones were always made up for the next year and with care you could do the whole middle class thing.

I do not care who anyone voted for when it comes to this topic, and it saddens (horrifies) me that some think that is a-ok to think otherwise.

these days that I read here and other places that sadden and horrify me. I think I may have outlived my purpose whatever that was.