Episcopal Press and News
Church Sponsors Farm Crisis Consultation
Episcopal News Service. December 19, 1985 [85257]
Lucy Germany , The Texas Churchman
DALLAS (DPS, Dec. 19) -- "I found out whose crisis this farm crisis is. It's mine."
The Rt. Rev. Charles Duvall, Bishop of the Central Gulf Coast, announced his discovery in the waning moments of a three-day consultation on the problems of agriculture in the United States and how the Church might respond.
Funded by a grant from the Cochel Trust, the session, held at the Bishop Mason Retreat Center here Dec. 9-11, called forth some 50 church leaders, concerned laypersons, large and small farmers, agriculture extension and farm credit bureau representatives, university professors and volunteers who have found a way to respond to the growing concerns. The consultation's convenor and planning group chairman was the Rt. Rev. Rustin R. Kimsey, bishop of Eastern Oregon, and other planners included the Rev. John Thornton of Oregon; the Ven. Ben Helmer of Western Kansas; the Ven. C. I. Jones of Kentucky, bishop-elect of Montana; the Rev. Robert Green of West Texas; and the Ven. Webster Simons of East Carolina. Staff assistance was provided by the Rev. Richard Gary, assistant to the executive for Education for Mission and Ministry and staff officer for rural and small town ministries at the Episcopal Church Center.
Many did not know how harsh and widespread the situation has become for farmers, particularly for those trying to survive on the small acreages known as "family farms." Many had horror stories to tell, and the media injected yet another during the conference, as it broadcast the grim tale of an Iowa farmer who in desperation shot his wife, his banker and his neighbor before killing himself. The stories told by farmers from the wheat growing country of Washington and Kansas to the rich small-farm delta land of Mississippi focused on despair, on strong people rendered helpless in the face of falling income, rising debts. Many rode high during the bright times of the 1970's, buying land and farm machinery at high prices with the encouragement of their bankers and government. Now their $2,000 an acre land is worth $700, and their interest payments exceed what they can get for their crops. Auctions have become a way of life in rural areas, where sad-eyed people gather, drained of all emotion and energy, watching the dreams of three or four generations go down the drain.
An integral part of the crisis is bank closing and town closing. People are leaving the small towns. Main Street is a badge of failure with its shuttered businesses; the Town Square is a gathering of ghosts. Failed banks are not even being put back together anymore by rescuers; they are simply closing forever. These were recurring themes from the recitals of woes by people who came to share their sense of loss. Thirteen banks have failed in Oklahoma this year, the largest number in that state's history.
What may be even more important in the mind of the Rev. Jerry Sneary, farmer-priest from Alva, Okla., is the loss of spiritual and moral values, important ingredients in the fabric of a democracy. "Human dignity, stewardship of soil, honesty...all are qualities represented by the American farm family," he said, "If we allow those to disappear, we're in deep trouble." Sneary sees the spectre of a conspiracy. "The government is deliberately trying to put 20 percent of American farmers out of business due to over-production," he said, "Does that make sense when people are dying in Ethiopia from lack of food?" He and other speakers put their finger on the distribution process as the culprit in this scenario. "The moral issue is that food production, distribution and compensation -- the whole system -- needs an overhaul."
The Church's role in the crisis was seen as two-pronged: prophetic and practical. The Episcopal Church can help best in conjunction with other churches to establish programs such as hotlines, referral services, resource centers. The small town pastor needs to know how to recognize trouble in its early stage and how to deal with it.
Training programs in counseling for rural families were suggested. "We need first of all to get to the gut level," said Disciples of Christ clergyman the Rev. Max Glenn, Disciples of Christ, president of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, which has an active task force on rural matters and a statewide hot line funded partly by donations from singer Willie Nelson's Farm Aid. "I have shed tears over horror-stories," he said, "I could not believe that people were losing their farms." He said the Church needs to help build community among farmers. "They are proud individualists," several noted, "Nobody knows when they're hurt. They just don't talk about it."
The Church was seen as a linkage to bring people together and, in action taken through the Oklahoma task force, has begun a state university suicide prevention training course, changed the local rule for food stamps so farmers could get them and offered legal aid.
The Rev. David Osendorf, an ordained Church of Christ minister and director of Rural Prairie Fire, an advocacy organization based in Des Moines, said his group had helped farmers get a one-year moratorium on foreclosure using an old Depression-era statute. Churches in Iowa are providing meeting space, have formed survival committees and, even more importantly, lend legitimacy to a cause. "We have stood in the rain and cold on the courthouse steps silently protesting foreclosure auctions," he said. "All church people should be doing this, as well as learning about farm legislation and keeping their concern for the issues before their elected representatives. We must do more than help people to cope; I encourage 'poking' -- fighting -- fighting back, learning, making people active. I come to you in pain and sorrow for these people, and I ask you to help mobilize them on their own behalf."
Catherine Waller, an Episcopal laywoman and director of the Rural Advancement Fund in North Carolina, cited her early life experience growing up white in the rural South as one of "knowing a great deal about charity but not much about justice. It's time our church addressed this area of intense human need," she said, "The United States Department of Agriculture's thesis seems to be 'Get Big or Get Out,' as if there is no longer viability for the small farmer in America. In 25 years, two and a half million farms have been lost, and we will lose a million more in this decade. The whole rural fabric is eroding, and it is not a question of the bad farmers losing out and the good surviving. Good farmers are going under because of government policy...We must make business people aware so they can help...we need to build a constituency for farmers...the Church must educate and speak prophetically."
The consultation agreed that the Church has the resources and the call to help. A Rogation Sunday liturgy focusing on the farmer's plight was suggested, as was a position paper by the House of Bishops. "We need to read literature already available, such as the several papers written by Roman Catholic bishops: "This Land Is Home to Me," "Renew the Earth" and "Strangers and Guests -- Toward Community in the Heartland," said Bro. David Andrew, executive director of the Rural Ministry Institute. "These letters are passionate... they give support."
Dr. Wally Rehberg, a university agri-business professor and farmer of Pullman, Wash., said reports should be made to diocesan conventions, clergy conferences and parishes. "We need to see our bishops, draw on secular help, use the media." As part of the latter, videotapes of the presentations and audio tapes of the consultation as a whole will be available from Gary's office at the Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017. There will also be a full report on the consultation in the January issue of Grassroots, a journal which serves as "a forum for small Episcopal churches."
All agreed heartily that the crisis is the Church's business. And none could forget that it is a serious crisis of economics and humanity. "I heard a farmer say," Glenn told the group, "'I can lose my life easier than I can my land.'" How can the Church ignore that cry?