One hundred years ago, English-born Catherine and Thomas Naylor, bought the farm we farm today in Greene County, Iowa. They built our house we live in that year, too, when prosperity from World War I markets gave them the courage to go in debt for the farm and house. This destination came after a Greene County coal mine shaft caved in on my grandfather’s tools, and hopscotching from farm to farm cast my family’s status as family farmers, which gave George, their only grandchild, the opportunity of becoming a family farmer. The Jochimsens, George’s mother’s parents, were always tenant farmers.

George Naylor, “Without Clarity…” Every country should be allowed to have food sovereignty, so that each country can democratically develop its own policy to choose the kind of agriculture its people want, and ensure its citizens’ food security and political sovereignty. With food sovereignty, a country can make sure that its food production is ecological and economically fair, and provides economic opportunity in rural as well as urban areas, so as not to be subject to the whims of global markets, global corporations, or the use of food as a weapon by more powerful countries. After all, why should a country and its people lose its sovereignty and security by having to import food from the “winners” who are willing to depopulate rural communities and pollute and destroy their farmland with pesticides and unwise production at any cost?

As individuals and as a society, we recognize - and often celebrate - anniversaries. These dates help us remember important moments in our lives, and also mark the passage of time. By looking back, we can gauge progress or growth or accomplishments. 

One anniversary was two years ago this week when my op-ed about the stress farmers face, which can too often lead to family tensions, drug abuse, and even suicide, was published in the Des Moines Register. The reality of the dire situation of our farm economy had hit me so strong that I wrote this piece quickly, out of a sense of compassion and urgency. It was published to coincide with National Suicide Prevention Week.

It was this same week, in 2003, that a farmer from South Korea sacrificed his own life outside a meeting of the WTO (World Trade Organization) in Cancun, Mexico where thousands of farmers from around the world had gathered to protest free trade agreements. A banner around his neck read, “WTO Kills Farmers.”