wfn.org | Lutherans Meet with U.S. Farm Leaders to Discuss Rural Crisis

[news@ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 9, 2000

LUTHERANS MEET WITH U.S. FARM LEADERS TO DISCUSS RURAL CRISIS
00-232-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Less than 2 percent of U.S. citizens are engaged
in agriculture and more than half of the 10,851 congregations of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) live in small-town and
rural settings, according to the Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding
bishop of the ELCA.  With that in mind, Anderson met with leaders of
three large U.S. farm organizations here Sept. 27 to discuss how the
church may help to improve the future of rural America and farming.
     Leland H. Swenson, president, National Farmers Union, Washington,
D.C., is a member of Lutheran Church of the Cross (ELCA), Evergreen,
Colo.;  Bob Stallman, president, American Farm Bureau Federation, Park
Ridge, Ill., is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church (ELCA), Columbus,
Texas; and Bob Arndt, Minnesota president, National Farm Organization,
Echo, Minn., is a member of Peace Lutheran Church, Echo, a congregation
of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
     Lutherans have been "directly affected by the economic and
spiritual health of rural America," Anderson said.  "They have seen
their communities dwindle.  Population has decreased, schools have
consolidated and local businesses have closed or moved away," he said on
the ELCA's "Dial Bishop Anderson," recorded telephone messages on news
updates about the church.
     Farmers are working as hard as ever, Anderson said.  "Many now
hold other jobs with spouses working, yet they can't seem to make ends
meet.  There's something in the pricing and marketing system itself that
needs fixing.  It's a direct challenge to our American myth that, if you
work hard, you will succeed," he said.
     The objective of the meeting was to determine "a few basic points"
about a massive, complex problem, Anderson said.  Farm leaders offered
their perspectives on the "state of rural life," learned about the
ELCA's rural ministry and heard about the ELCA's social statement on
economic life called "Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All," which
the 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted.
     Some rural and farm problems are caused by policies brought on as
a result of changes in rural America, said Swenson in an interview.
     "We have seen change in tax policy, farm policy and regulatory
policy that have directly led to many of the [current farm and rural]
trends we see unfold.  But, the [rural crisis] is not just a trend or an
inevitable fate that is impacting America," Swenson said.
     "Policies have ramifications on trends, but trends just don't
happen by themselves.  We need to have dialogue to bring about changes
in public policy that address the concerns and needs of rural America --
farming, environment, finance, transportation, housing and rural water
needs.  All of these affect the quality of life, not only for those
involved in production agriculture, for all those who live in rural
America."
     "Families in rural America are hurting.  The landscape in rural
America is changing tremendously," Swenson said.  "The church needs to
give people hope and provide opportunities.  The ELCA needs to be an
advocate for hope," he said.
     "Families in rural communities have lost their jobs and their
livelihood.  They are under tremendous stress.  We have seen a rise in
drug abuse, [domestic] abuse, and we have seen the suicide rate increase
in rural communities.  The church needs to train local ministers on how
to recognize stress and the situations rural families find themselves
in, as well as work to provide hope, opportunity and assistance for
individuals, particularly youth," Swenson said.
     "Rural America is not a desirable place to live," Stallman said in
an interview.
     Rural families and farmers "are under economic stress and
undergoing transition," Stallman said.  "A vast majority of small-time
farmers sell thousands of dollars worth of products but end up earning a
small income."  While producers sell about $250,000 worth of farm
products a year, subtract the amount needed for expenses and "a very
generous 10 percent profit margin" taken from that amount, farmers are
left with an annual income of about $25,000, he said.
     Stallman believes the church must provide "emotional support" to
families in rural areas.  "The church should have a program in place to
provide professional support through networking and outreach programs
designed to evaluate a [farmer's] position and offer some help to ease
transition and make farmers whole again."
     Stallman said the church must also become aware of rural issues,
"the different proposals [designed to address rural concerns] and the
kinds of impact issues have on people in rural communities."
Unfortunately, farm policy, in all of its parameters, is pretty complex
and there is no one-size solution, he said.
     "We just don't have a farming problem, we have an American
problem," said Arndt.  "There are a lot of poor people in rural
communities.  We need to find a way to bring economic dollars into the
farming community," he said.
     Agriculture is divided into three segments -- industry, business
and production, Arndt said.  "Agriculture business involves the people
who provide farmers with input goods and services.  Agriculture
production involves people who use their own money as risk investment
every year to raise crops and/or livestock in hopes for a return on
their investment," he said.
     "We should not let those in the agriculture industry speak for
those in production agriculture in the political arena or marketplace.
Those in the agriculture industry want cheap corn, but farmers
(production agriculture) need to have a fair price for their commodities
sold," Arndt said.
     Many people believe that food serves one purpose, which is to feed
the human body, Arndt said.  "But, it serves a second purpose -- to be
exchanged at the marketplace for money and have its value distributed,"
he said.
     "The church can help educate farmers about the marketplace, supply
and demand of farm commodities, and what's happening around the world.
Many producers receive an education, but few understand how to care for
their own business.  Once farmers begin to learn to question the
agricultural industry, they can prepare for change.   The church can
help to bring farmers together, encourage them to join a farm
organization and become involved in the business of agriculture," Arndt
said.
     The ELCA has a full-time staff person devoted to rural ministry,
Sandra A. LaBlanc, Des Moines, Iowa, told farm leaders.  LaBlanc is an
associate in ministry and director for rural ministry resources and
networks, ELCA Division for Outreach.  The 1997 ELCA Churchwide Assembly
resolved to establish a rural and small-town ministries "desk."
     There are four primary areas of rural ministry, LaBlanc said.
"They are education, spirituality, resource development and advocacy."

     LaBlanc said that advocacy efforts fall into three key areas: the
need for a public policy that alleviates difficulty from "abnormal"
price fluctuations; concerns regarding biogenetic engineering and food
production; and the legal, moral and philosophical questions surrounding
the concentration of food production under a few multi-national
corporations.
     "These advocacy efforts were determined by the ELCA's rural
ministry desk and the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs," said
LaBlanc.  Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) is the ELCA's
federal public policy advocacy office in Washington, D.C.
     "We come to this circumstance to bring the resources that our
faith provides," the Rev. Russell O. Siler, LOGA director, told farm
leaders.  He highlighted the ELCA's social statement on economic life,
"Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All."
     Siler said that, through the statement, members of the ELCA call
for changes to assure that farmers will receive a greater proportion of
the retail food dollar, adequate prices for agricultural products so
that farmers can be compensated fairly for their labor and production
costs, sustainable agricultural practices that protect and restore the
regenerative capacities of the land, "more just work conditions" for
farm workers, and greater entry-level opportunities for the next
generation of family farmers.
     At the end of the meeting, Anderson and farm leaders generated a
list of "basic points" that would help agricultural producers and their
communities address the rural and farm crisis.  Points included price
fluctuations, food safety supply, rules for international trade of farm
commodities, consolidation and concentration, bio-genetic modification
and food contamination, advocacy and social concerns in rural
communities, and education for farmers.
     Farm leaders invited the church to organize a "summit" or national
conference among various faith groups to address "spiritual, social and
economic" perspectives of the rural crisis.  Anderson said that such a
conference would "help to focus public opinion on the problem" and
provide "encouragement and help for the [people] who deal with it every
day."

[Note: The rural and small-town ministries desk provides information at
www.elca.org/do/ruralhome.html on the ELCA Web site.]

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html