The interviewees frequently stress the connection between the farming lifestyle
and the role and value of family, and the continuing value of this connection to the wider
community:
“When I grew up, we had breakfast, dinner and supper every day. We sat
down with the family. We had time-sharing around the table and had that
time of family around the table, and I’ve tried to instill that today. As far
as family spending time together at the table, I think that has a lot to do
with how I grew up. You hear so much about families not doing that
today. I believe our strength in our country is only as strong as our
families. I think that’s one of the reasons why we have such a strong
country.”
In addition, most of the interviewees maintain that farming is more than simply an
occupation and a way of making money They express the fear that this aspect of farming
will be lost as the family farm is displaced by “big farms” that are driven only by profit.
“It looks to me like it’s [becoming] all about money, and that’s… farming isn’t all about
money. … It looks to me like farming is going to have to be more and more about money,
and I don’t like that, but you’ve got to make something.”
The interviews also convey a different sense of time that is tied to the farming
lifestyle as opposed what is seen as the dominant, hurried lifestyle in urban and suburban
areas. Even as they acknowledge their connections to the rest of the community through
their and their children’s activities, they still tend to see the farming lifestyle as defined
by the seasons and tied to the rhythms of nature. In addition, the interviewees tend to see
the farming life style as linked to a different way of judging personal success or failure.
Unlike those lifestyles that are based upon short-term measures of success and the drive
for immediate gratification, “farming isn’t a thing of one year or something. It’s a
lifetime or generations.” In short, farming is more than a way of making a living like
other forms of work. Farming is a unique way of living that requires hard work and
commitment, but is rewarding in ways that other occupations can never be.
The third theme is what the team of interviewers originally labeled “anti-
development,” but the authors see as a more complex theme centering in fears of the
effects of uncontrolled development on farming in Wayne County in particular and in the
country more generally. Certainly some of the interviewees express open contempt for
developers and development: “And I get offers day after day after day. But I won’t even
consider selling an inch. A guy down here wants land to buy a house, and nope, no way.
[inaudible]. I hate what’s happening to Wayne County…” Others seem to indicate that
farmers put a very special value on their land, and only sell to developers because they
are forced out: “Land is sacred to a farmer. He wouldn’t sell it if he didn’t need the
money.”
However, most of the interviews reveal a more nuanced assessment of the threats
posed by development and how the responsible or “good farmer” responds to it. They do
tend to see how the farmer chooses to confront the problems posed by development
pressures as a moral as well as an economic decision. Many of the family narratives
stress how parents have made sacrifices to pass the farm on to their children rather than
cashing in the value of the land in order to keep the land in farming and the family on the
17
Convention