The Curse of Politics

Politics and the small farmer have never really been friends - none more so than today.

“Party politics have never meant much to the villager, and he knows that constant changes in agricultural policy do not make for good farming or stability for himself and his family.”

Miss K. Talbot, Village Growers, Unite! In: The Small Farmer, Ed. Massingham.

Welcome to another Wisdom From the Field. This time around, we are considering a very pertinent and live issue both in UK and abroad: the raging conflict between politics and the small farmer.

This series of Wisdom From the Field posts are for paid subscribers. However, all throughout December, I am offering 25% off a paid subscription to Over the Field, which gives you access to all past and future Wisdom From the Fields, all my nature writing essays, access to the Wendell Berry Online Reading Group, and full access to my extensive paywalled essay archive.

Now on to the reflection.

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Villagers and small farmers live largely separate lives to those in the great halls of power. Nationally important events and “news worthy” stories rarely occur within their fields and farms, and in turn, the goings on of mainstream politics and the international order seldom attract the attention of the rural folk.¹ They are more concerned with weather reports and local news — which, more often than not, relies on the oral grapevine rather than the printed page or pixelated screen for transmission.

One could thus assume that politicians and villagers/farmers are happy to live in blissful ignorance of one another, letting life tick on smoothly and without complaint or hinderance: “You keep to the halls of power, and I’ll keep to the fields and make sure you are fed.” Though this idealised existence may have been the case in the distant past, it certainly has not been the case ever since the upheavals of the Second World War. And as recent proclamations from the Houses of Parliament have shown, it most certainly is not the case now.