Taking agriculture out of American culture
DeWayne Backhus
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
THE 2007 Lyon County Fair is history. At one time, county fairs celebrated agriculture. Much activity centered on the rural way of life: 4-H organization activity displays, farm crop and livestock exhibits, farm implement and tractor dealer displays, or booths with vendors informing patrons of goods and services intended to ease the burdens of rural life.
Two circumstances triggered this opinion piece. The first was a conversation with a young professional person at lunch during Fair week. He had been to the fairgrounds and commented that he most enjoyed the vintage tractor display. That took me by surprise; but he indicated that he grew up in rural Ohio.
I mentioned that I wanted to see the vintage and antique tractor pull, but it was changed to a weekday at 1 p.m., which hardly allowed attendance by many. Further, it was not a grandstand event, but it was staged in the northeast corner of the fairgrounds.
He, too, indicated that he grew up attending “real” tractor-pulling competitions in Ohio. Real? Yes, we enjoy the super-stock “tractor” and truck-pulling with their high-tech power displays, but that is a huge contrast with the brute lugging ability of an antique or vintage farm tractor.
The second circumstance was the “tipping point” — U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran’s comments to a BeefFest audience that the debate on a new Farm Bill was more about other issues than “the farm.” It may be that one farmer feeds more than 150 others today, which is equivalent to saying that there are fewer farmers and rural Americans than ever before. An awareness of America’s agricultural heritage will decrease only as fewer are directly involved, but it will surely fade to oblivion if county fairs become little more than carnivals for young people. Increased revenues for grandstand events may build an infrastructure called “the fairgrounds.” But that may be a small consolation for a diminished awareness and understanding of the agricultural heritage and rural way of life in America.
Museums alone cannot shoulder that responsibility.