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

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 I mprove 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 farm