ELCA Hosts U.S. Farm Summit

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Sixty-five leaders from church and farm organizations shared their thoughts and concerns about the current conditions of U.S. agriculture and their hopes for the future. They gave a representative committee the charge to draft a vision statement and to circulate it for their approval.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) hosted the Rural Summit here March 26. Sandra A. LaBlanc, ELCA director for rural ministry resources and networking, Des Moines, Iowa, and the Rev. Russell O. Siler, director of the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, Washington, D.C., coordinated the event.
"We are here grappling with a set of problems that are complex, that are constantly changing before our eyes, that are so comprehensive that they reach into all areas of our own society and have global connections and consequences," the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding bishop, told the gathering.
"With such a variety of forces and consequences to reckon with, we must realize from the beginning that to find some simple solution is probably going to mean that everybody is somehow disappointed," said Anderson. Even when it seems a balance has been achieved, it is the result of inequities in power and influence, he said.
"Thank you for coming here to deal with an impossible task," said Anderson. "In the long run, God's grace and spirit will help us to know each other better, hear each other better and eventually discover in one another the words and concepts that can bring change for the better."
LaBlanc said the summit brought together leaders from Lutheran social ministry organizations and Catholic charities, ELCA and Catholic state public policy offices, low-resource and "minority" farm groups, traditional farm and commodity groups, rural life groups, women's church organizations and rural specialists in several Christian denominations.
Summit topics included "fair pricing" of U.S. farm products, "free markets," agricultural legislation, rural society and the treatment of farm workers. A general consensus was that faith groups need to continue calling the various farm groups together, so they can hear each other in neutral settings, especially in smaller gatherings addressing limited numbers of topics.
"This event seemed to rise up out of possibilities some of us began to consider last fall," said Anderson. He met Sept. 27 with leaders of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), Park Ridge, Ill.; National Farmers Organization (NFO), Ames, Iowa; and National Farmers Union (NFU), Denver, Colo. -- all Lutherans. The summit was an outcome of that meeting.
"We want you to know each other and to find out where we can work together to build consensus on some policies that we can advocate, some direction for rural America," said Anderson. He said he hoped the gathering could develop some steps toward mending "the torn social fabric of rural life in this country."
Anderson reminded participants that Congress is taking a fresh look at farm policy this year, and he called it a "critical time" to frame that discussion.
"We must seize the moment. It is not too late. If we fail to seize the moment, it will be too late," warned Paul Olson, NFO president and member of Taylor Lutheran Church, Taylor, Wis. "The so-called 'farm crisis' is becoming an 'American citizen crisis,' and few realize it."
In 1969 there were 22 active dairy farms in Taylor, Wis. Now Olson's wife and he operate the only dairy farm, he said. "In my travels across America, I have seen tens of thousands of 'Taylor, Wisconsins.'"
"Farmers are forced off the land because they have not received a fair price for what they sell," said Olson. Multinational corporations have taken the profits of the land and driven the farmers away, he said.
"The family farm structure in this country is by far the most efficient food producing system in the world, bar none," he added.
"We want to fix problems and not assign blame," said Bob Stallman, AFBF president and member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Columbus, Texas. "Consumer choice is driving the system we have today."
"The 'gloom and doom' makes for good news conferences and good rhetoric, but we have to look at the promises that are out there now," said Stallman. Among hopeful signs for the future, he included biotechnology and information technology.
Technology has brought change to almost every aspect of life, including agriculture, said Stallman. "The technology is not evil," he said, saying it can help produce healthy crops at a volume that can feed a hungry world.
"I'm the last Stallman actively farming rice, and there used to be about 10 of us on the Gulf coast of Texas," said Stallman. "Is that evil? I don't think so. It involved choices."
"Perhaps the role of the church community in the local area should be to provide the thing that churches do best ... emotional support, counseling, outreach ... help people get through tough times. There are people going through tough times. Make no mistake about it," said Stallman.
"We have a crisis in rural America ... a crisis that goes far beyond the farm gate. It goes into the heart of the whole structure of rural America today," said Leland H. Swenson, NFU president and member of Lutheran Church of the Cross, Evergreen, Colo. He cited teen suicide and drug abuse levels comparable to large-population areas of the country.
"Change is inevitable," said Swenson, "but is change good for the elements of our resources -- be they human or natural -- or is it effective change for the purpose of greed?" He said, "The structure of change is what's important and how we influence that direction of change."
"The depopulation of rural America affects our churches, our education system, our health care system -- from what's affordable to where it's going to be delivered," said Swenson. People in rural areas are left with little or no choice, he said.
"When we take a look at why agriculture in this country is so great, it's because of our investment in infrastructure," said Swenson. "We had a government partnership with people that made the success of agriculture in this country."
"Then we got away from that," he said. "We said, 'Others can do that.' That change has not always been good for the people and the resources."
"We have those who say, 'Less government.' I'm saying there is a need for a partnership in the government," said Swenson.
Other presentations were given by: + Betty Bailey, executive director, Rural Advancement Fund International - USA, Pittsboro, N.C. + Sue Bertrand, U.S./Canada and Mexico program director, Heifer Project International, Little Rock, Ark. + Catherine I.H. Braasch, executive director, Women of the ELCA, Chicago + Bishop Raymond L. Burke, president, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Des Moines, Iowa + Barb Determan, president, National Pork Producers Council, Early, Iowa + Chuck Hassebrook, program director, Center for Rural Affairs, Walthill, Neb. + the Rev. Sue Larson, director, Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin, Madison + Veronica Meneses, action coordinator, National Farm Worker Ministry + Diana Stephen, director for rural ministry, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, Ky.
The facilitator of each of six small group discussions will serve on a representative committee to draft a vision statement from concerns raised at the summit. That draft is to be circulated among the participants for issuing at a later date. -- -- --
The ELCA rural ministry resources and networking desk maintains information at http://www.elca.org/do/ruralhome.html on the Web.

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