Farming Problems Essays - Farm, Land Management, Rural Culture

Farming Problems The complexion of farming is changing radically. The land cannot support as many farm families as it did in an earlier time. Small farms are being consolidated into larger ones. General farms, with several kinds of crops and a barnyard of farm animals, are yielding to specialty farms that concentrate on a single major crop. Family farms are declining; corporate farms are increasing. Efficiency is growing. Crops are changing. Techniques are improving. Just as the train, tractor, truck, and airplane changed farm life in the past, the computer and robotics are expected to change farm life in the future (AOL, 1997). And the outcome of this is that during the early 1980's and continuing, the farmer's source of income is indeed being stripped from him. What was once the only means of survival for these farmers, has now become distant memory. Farming techniques are undergoing tremendous changes. Farming will surely become more efficient throughout the world. It will also become more scientific and, in the process perhaps lose some of its romance. People who formerly lived on farms and have fond memories of their rural childhood will barely recognize the new farms. For farmers of the future, it will not be enough to know how to drive a tractor and plow a straight furrow. Farmers must change with the industry, as it becomes increasingly more sophisticated. The farmer must become more of a specialist to compete in the marketplace. This is a reason why many of today's farm families are on a decline; that is, that today's farmers are not able to purchase the latest machinery or equipment, for they have to be cautious about where they put their money. The 1980's sometimes referred to as the "farm crisis" decade of the 1980's, while the 1970's were referred to as the "boom years". It was in this time period that farms expanded in size and farm numbers dropped. But in the 1980's, two unusual things happened. First, older farmers seemed to stay in farming longer. Some who might have retired didn't want to sell their land in a depressed market, unless forced by a lender. Second, some middle aged farm families with children who might succeed them quit, or discourage their children from pursuing a farming career. Other younger farmers who had recently borrowed to start farming or to expand their businesses were caught in the interest rate squeeze and forced out of business (Looker 1996, pp9). This fed the decline of family farms, for children, who grew up on farms, did not wish to take upon a career as a farmer, but venture into the city looking for better work and wages, effects that the farm life couldn't give. The decline of the family farm has been heralded for decades, as growing numbers of people moved from the country top the city, and then to the suburbs. According to an article in the USA Today, a 32-year-old dairy farmer from Fort Plain, N.Y., says " You can get an 8 to 5 job, make a good living and still have (spare) time, and in the dairy business, there are huge cycles in prices. Just about the time you've caught up from a down cycle, another one comes along". This illustrates why young people are leaving the farm in search for better living conditions and money. Both the farmers and the academic experts talk about the key role of money in the decline of the family farm. " The evolution towards larger farms and more sophisticated equipment puts the initial investment far out of reach for most young people". "It's not a small business anymore", says John Scott, farm management and land economics professor at the University of Illinois-Champaign. "And because farming is risky dependant on the weather, at the mercy of crop and livestock diseases and victim of wild price swings-banks are unwilling to lend money to finance startup operations, especially after the disastrous defaults of the late 1970's and early 1980's, when high interest rate plowed under many farms and left lender without uncorrectable debts". (USA Today) This shows us how hard it is for farmers to receive credit, to keep the operation of a farm working. And without this credit, many farmers face the inevitable, that is, closing and selling their farmland. Farmers, however, do receive aid from the Government, to help them with competing prices. According to an article in the Philadelphia Tribune, it says that if "the Congressional Budget Reconciliation Act now awaiting presidential action is enacted, the historical American farm family will

Diets Dont Help to Lose Weight

Diets Dont Help to Lose Weight There’s More to Losing Weight Than Eating Less Change Your Lifestyle! Ask any thin adult on the street if they diet. Go ahead – we’ll wait. †¦ They don’t diet, we told you so. They don’t follow gluten-free diets, diets without bread, or sugar-free diets either. Thin people don’t fast and skip meals and eat like birds. Thin people eat, actually, rather wholesomely and, well, quite a bit. What can help a person lose weight is exercising, eating healthily and mindfully. These are the keys to losing weight – not dieting on the newest celebrity-backed nutrition trends. It comes down to one’s lifestyle, discipline and foresight, and making the right decisions about what their body does, as well as good decisions about what they put in their body. Dieting doesn’t work. Lifestyle changes help lose weight. Exercise a lot! What helps a person, any person, lose weight is exercise – and rigorous exercise. This is jogging or walking briskly for 30 minutes three to five times a week. This is hitting the weight room for an hour three to four times a week. A person needs to move their body because the majority of us life sedentary lives – mostly because of our jobs, which require computers. Rigorous exercise every other day improves one’s metabolism, the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life; the breakdown of complex substances and the consequent production of energy and waste matter. A person with a strong metabolism is generally thin and can consume a great deal of food – they burn it off quickly, the burn many of the unwanted calories they consume in a given day. That’s why exercise is important: it increases the metabolic rate in a person’s body, which makes losing weight easier and more attainable. Diets don’t he lp lose weight; exercise does. Diets may help some folks lose weight – but you can actually lose weight by eating more. That’s right. Diets like Weight Watchers do more harm than good. They require the dieter to eat pre-packaged food that lacks in nutrition and substance. People don’t need that to be healthy and thin. People, to be healthy and thin, need to eat a well-balanced diet – with lots of greens, fruits and proteins, which is what a person’s body needs to function and person at its optimal level. Moderation is good for losing weight, instead of over-eating to the point of discomfort. Foods like cucumbers, leafy greens and berries provide a person energy, but also contain vitamins and minerals that burn fat – such as B vitamins: niacin – and provide a lot of fiber. Fiber is a dietary material containing substances such as cellulose, lignin, and pectin, that are resistant to the action of digestive enzymes. Foods with fiber keep digestion on track, delivering waste via bowel movements. This, in turn, maintains a person’s waste. People need protein, too. It helps build muscles and also prevents a person from cravings, as the protein takes longer to digest. People, to lead healthy, fit lives, need to exercise and eat nutritiously. Eat Not Less But Mindfully! To lose weight, people must eat mindfully and with a plan. Eating well takes planning – research, grocery lists, discipline, and sacrifice – and it’s not necessarily cheap either. But the majority of fruits and veggies are sold relatively cheap in markets and grocery stores. Though meats are a bit more expensive to purchase in quality. Nonetheless, there are many alternatives to meat as one’s only source of protein. In any rate, a person – for their metabolism to kick in full gear, to burn calories early in the day – should eat a big, wholesome breakfast every day, lots of protein, fruit, and grains; perhaps a snack later, dark chocolate or a piece of fruit. Secondly, a moderate lunch, not as large as breakfast – but still with protein and veggies or fruit, maybe a little bread. For dinner, a French dinner: moderate-sized portions, perhaps more veggies than protein. This basically illustrates a pyramid, with the bottom, the widest port ion representing breakfast. But it takes preparation, foresight, and diligence to eat like this – so you lose maximum weight. In conclusion, don’t diet; it doesn’t work. Lifestyle changes help lose weight. Exercising vigorously each week, eating healthily and mindfully – these are the keys to losing weight. Just look at an Olympic athlete. They don’t diet. They burn thousands of calories training each day – but yet they eat like kings. Thin people don’t live by Kate Moss’s famous quote, â€Å"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.†