“[The farmer] is, after all, the only man in our economy who must buy everything he buys at retail—sell everything he sells at wholesale—and pay the freight both ways.”
This is a famous (and mostly accurate) line about the difficulties of farm economies. It comes from a speech by then-Senator John F. Kennedy at a Democratic campaign gathering in Bismarck, North Dakota in 1958. It has largely been treated as a foregone conclusion of economics and government agriculture policy. In the speech, Kennedy himself treated it as a foregone conclusion.
If it is a foregone conclusion, that is a perpetually difficult situation. Other businesses do not want to sell to the farmer below retail. In that case, the economic difficulty simply gets transferred to them. The other side of that equation—improving the wholesale price—is the central idea of much government farm policy over the last 75 years. I do not want to get into that topic, because people far more qualified than me (including my own wife) spend much of their time working on those topics as a full-time job. They do not need me as an armchair quarterback.
But what if those rules did not have to be a foregone conclusion? What if, instead of being forced into a game with difficult rules, we could change the rules of the game entirely?
We have talked in recent weeks about the idea of strengthening local economies. As I observed last time, the local economy starts with food, clothing, and shelter, because those are the most basic necessities in each of our lives. What if the farmer could sell some of those basic necessities for retail prices and do so locally?
I am always suspicious of good ideas (even my own) if they do not have a market. Sure, an idea might seem good, but if nobody will actually put it to use, it is merely academic. But the idea of farmers selling at retail and doing it locally? That DOES have a market!
Have you ever heard phrases like “farm-to-table” or “local food”? This is exactly what we are talking about. In 2015, the National Restaurant Association reported that four of the top ten trends in the restaurant business related to the idea of eating local food. Those trends have only increased since that time. There are a variety of reasons why this works. I am not here to make value judgments on why certain people have jumped on this trend, but I do know that their money spends well and it goes into the pockets of the farmers that have produced that local food.
I also know some objective facts. If you have ever eaten fresh, home-grown produce, meat, or eggs, you know how good it tastes. And if you grew it yourself, there is an enormous amount of fulfillment. Over the weekend, I ate a salad that had store-bought lettuce, but the onions came from Tommy Bearden at the Jones-Haskell Farmers Market in Stamford and the tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers were grown in our personal garden. It was a good salad, but it tasted better because so much of it was fresh and because our family grew so much of it.
There is a reason why much of America’s produce is grown in places like Florida, the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and California. The weather is much more conducive. We are not going to grow lettuce on a large scale in Stamford. And that is okay. That is not what I am proposing.
What I am proposing is that local leaders think deeply about how they can tap in to local and regional markets for the items that they CAN grow. Whether it be produce, cereal grains, fiber crops, or meat, there is a growing world of opportunity for the American farmer to change the rules of the game and sell at retail. It will strengthen local economics, create new rural jobs, and create prosperity across rural communities.
📷: my (mostly) local salad referenced in today’s essay, paired with a delicious Copenhagen Coffee House tuna sandwich.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and podcast. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to West of 98 wherever podcasts are found.
Mayor, you’re totally spot on! What do we do about meat processing? Do we need a large group of butchers to open local processing facilities? I’m here for it, whatever it looks like, because I’d love to support those local farmers and ranchers and because I’d love to be one.