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Peculiarities of farming families
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For thousands of years, farming has been around and is considered an essential part of life despite its hardships. Throughout my entire life, I have been a part of the farming subculture even though, I have never farmed myself, my entire family does. My father and his five siblings grew up on a farm and now farm with a friend. Farmers have both ascribed and achieved statuses, meaning that they are born into being a farmer but they still must work and meet that status. Agriculture farmers have a different pattern of behavior and way of life that is substantial enough to distinguish them from the overall culture. Farming is a subculture because it holds a set of norms and values that are distinct from the majority. There are several aspects to …show more content…
From the houses they live in, to the equipment they use to conduct their work, each is distinct from the larger culture. farmers typically live in what is classified as a farmhouse with a big porch, and they usually drive trucks not cars. For the farm itself, the farmers will have a ton of agriculture equipment that is used to perform crucial jobs for their livelihood. For example, milking machines send the milk to the bulk tank where it will be picked up by a milk company and carried to a factory. Without these specific machines, the farmers would need more manpower and they would most likely go out of business. Their material culture differs from the majority because most jobs/families do not require heavy equipment to perform everyday tasks like a …show more content…
For example, farming does not hold beauty as a high value, because everyone involved in this culture serves a purpose and has a cultural role to play. A cultural role is the expected behavior and set expectations for how a person will act. Beliefs are extremely important within the farming community and are held in extreme regards. Children are expected to get up every Sunday, put on their best clothes, and attend church with their Families. Since they heavily rely on nature for their crops and animals, they often pray to God to give them good weather and healthy crops/animals. They typically wear working clothes and Caterpillar boots to protect their feet, and they have strong work ethics that are highly
Wendell Berry writes in his book, “What are people for?” a thesis that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture. He feels that technology is seen and used as the easy way to produce food faster and more efficiently. With this modern way of farming comes the idea that we need to work smarter not harder which is not always true. The goal is comfort and leisure and Berry feels that this is the reason for the down fall of the agricultural culture. He believes that hard work and pride in workmanship is more important than material goods and money. This was by no means a perfect society. The people had often been violent wand wasteful in the use of land of each other. Its present ills have already taken root in it. Even with these faults, this society appreciated the hard work of farming compared to the easy way of living today.
Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the
Farmers were once known for being able to do everything themselves. They grew their own food and sewed their own clothes. People often yearn for the old days and complain about so many people living in cities. Many farmers had to give up their farms and move to the cities, because of something that happened in the late nineteenth century.
The American culture was built upon farming and agriculture but since the end of the civil war and the abolition of slaves, things have changed dramatically to the American lifestyle. This time brought on the Industrial Revolution which sparked many factories and new ways of transportation across America. There were many acts passed to encourage the agricultural lifestyle still such as the Homestead Act of 1862, the Timber Culture Act of 1873, the Desert Land Act of 1877, and the Timber and Stone Act passed in 1878. As a result of these acts, farm income dropped and new machines and methods or systems to farm such as sharecropping and tenant farming became available and made it much easier to increase crop yields. The people who had the smaller farms, uncultivated land, or limited resources could not compete against the farms who were bigger, better, and more modernized with the new technology. After many people failed on the farms, they were seen heading to t...
The 1920’s were the singularly most influential years of farming in our country. The loss of farms following the war, and new agricultural practices resulted in the dawn of modern agriculture in our country. The shift from small family to big corporation during this time is now the basis for how our society deals with food today. Traditional farming in the 1920’s underwent a series of massive transitions following WWI as the number of farms decreased and the size of farms increased.
...o. “The Great Agricultural Transition: Crisis, Change, and Social Consequence of the Twentieth Century US Farming”. Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001): 103-124.
This research plans to compare and contrast the similarities and differences in agricultural development between the Jericho Valley,in present day Palestine, and that of the Andes Mountains. There are several aspects to compare in these regions. First and perhaps most obvious is the environmental differences of these regions as well as the ecological changes in each region has itself undergone. Closely linked to these environments is the native biological species, how these native species have been domesticated, as well as looking at what crop species have been introduced to the regions, and their effect on the native species. After explaining the differences in climate of the two regions it is important to understand who was doing the farming in these areas. This will be looked at in terms of cultural evolution, groups' social approach to farming and how that affects land use and technical procedure.
Farmers are essentially the back-bone of the entire food system. Large-scale family farms account for 10% of all farms, but 75% of overall food production, (CSS statistics). Without farmers, there would be no food for us to consume. Big business picked up on this right away and began to control the farmers profits and products. When farmers buy their land, they take out a loan in order to pay for their land and farm house and for the livestock, crops, and machinery that are involved in the farming process. Today, the loans are paid off through contracts with big business corporations. Since big business has such a hold over the farmers, they take advantage of this and capitalize on their crops, commodities, and profits. Farmers are life-long slaves to these b...
Obviously, some do adhere to this stereotype, but the majority of these farmers are normal, hardworking people. Although these farmers, both believe in their methods, one is no better than the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but there is no true superior method of crop farming. The definition of conventional farming is “Intensive farming or intensive agriculture as an agricultural production system characterized by a low fallow ratio and the high use of inputs such as capital, labor, or heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers relative to land area.” Conventional farming is the method that a majority of farmers use.
It is estimated that 37 farmers leave the land every day to pursuit in different field (Herro 2006). The decline in rural farmers is from the consequences of industrialization of agriculture. Only 1 percent of the UK workforce is now employed on farm, compared to 35 percent in the last century (Herro 2006). Many of these workers are being weaved out by better technologies that can do the same work at a faster and more efficient rate. On the contrary, organic farming relies more on people for knowledge, daily monitoring, and production. A study by the Soil Association shows organic farming can potentially provide 32 percent more jobs per farm than conventional farming in the United Kingdom (Herro 2006). However, critics have argued that human labors will lead to higher food prices, which makes the shift infeasible. But while this may be true in developed country, a full scale shift to organic farming in developing countries, where labors are much cheaper than pesticides, can lead to a much higher profit for the farmers. Organic farming attracts younger employees than any other work industry. Currently, the average age for conventional farmer is 56 (Herro 2006). If a full scale shift to organic farming were to happen, it would draw a more vibrant and enthusiastic workforce who are food conscious than that older generations, setting up a platform
Cruelty toward animals, huge economic problems, and major health concerns are just three reasons why factory farming should be banned worldwide. Many people argue that factory farming is the only way to meet growing demands for food in the world today. However, factory farming is just not necessary, especially when it comes down to killing innocent animals in order to feed people. A way to put an end to the factory farming system is by buying our food from smaller, sustainable farms. These businesses still aim to profit from their labor, but that’s not their only objective. (The Issues: Factory Farming, n.d.) They simply will not sacrifice the health of the land or the quality of food simply to make a few extra dollars.
In Genesis 1:29, God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” From the beginning God has given us food for life. Plants, meats, trees, and fruits are offered to us as a means of sustenance from the very same God who made them long ago.
First, what exactly does a traditional society entail? A traditional society has many distinguishable traits. A big difference is the rate of illiteracy in these societies. Since everyone in the family is working together to survive, no one has the time or energy to learn how to read and write. Education is considered an indulgence in traditional societies. Farming is the main career - low urbanization and more rural communities fill these areas. Farming is not meant to bring profit, like in a modern society; it means survival for these people.
So overall, Agriculture is playing a very important role in changing the lifestyle of different people. Agriculture might have made everything easy for us but it still has its cons. We see the effects of agriculture and how it affects the lives of other species and the environment.
Farming has been an occupation since 8,500 B.C. On that year in the Fertile Crescent farming first began when people grew plants instead of picking them in the wild. Then nearly 5,000 years later oxen, horses, pigs, and dogs were domesticated. During the middle ages, the nobles divide their land into three fields. The reasoning for this was to plant two and leave one to recover. This was the start of crop rotation which is a big part of farming today. Burning down forest and then moving to another area is a farming technique used by the Mayans called Slash and burn. Mayan farmers also were able to drain swampy areas to farm them buy building canals. In 1701 Jethro Tull invented the seed drill and a horse drawn how that tilled the land. In Denmark they would plant turnips in the previously unplanted field. The turnips help restore the nutrients in the ground thus crop rotation is born. In England people began moving there fields closer to each other for a more efficient way of planting. Later in the 18th century selective breeding was introduce which made bigger, stronger, and more milk producing livestock. In the mid 1800’s a steam plough was invented. By the 1950 tractors, milking machines, and combines were used by almost farmers. The latest f...