Today, I reflect on some of the travel. Oh, in a month we have gone from Wisconsin to, Nebraska, N. Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado and a touch of Utah.
We saw a trend that always leaves me a bit cold. I will use the Palouse area of eastern Washington as an example. This region is known for its wheat production and driving through there it is impossible not to notice the millions of acres covered in golden waves of grain---mind you this is modern wheat, genetically modified, weed free from roundup, and planted with little thought of saving space for anything other than wheat.
To look at the impressive landscape, one would think the Palouse could provide grain for the world. It just goes on forever and from an artistic point of view, it is beyond comprehension with its expanse of textures and subtle colors. To travel the area, however, one can see the result of this type of farming.
Years ago, to pull off this wheat production there had to be a strong community every so many miles simply to provide manpower and all of their support systems--schools, stores, churches, blah, blah, blah. But as the farms were consolidated and mechanized the need for manpower diminished as have the once vital communities. The towns are now in shambles with tipped over, partially salvaged cars in the backyards and the populations diminished. Rather sad to me.
The large corporate farms are planted and harvested by giant machines ( above $350K variable leveling harvester) that run 24/7 during cultivating, chemical applying and harvesting. The jobs appear to be sporadic during off times---but production is beyond comprehension. The odd part is the profits, and they are huge with $15 wheat, all go to big corporations and in more and more cases foreign countries that are now buying up our crop land. I even found myself wondering where the wheat goes if it is owned by China.
Some transitions I just don't like.
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