Click here a subscription in to the our Fellow Kansans podcast. This year, we consider the leads of rural places.
DIGHTON, Kansas — A billboard along Interstate 70 boasting in regards to the productivity of Kansas farmers may say more about what’s taking place in farming compared to those whom put it here understand.
The message appears straightforward and simple: “1 Kansas Farmer Feeds 155 individuals + You!”
A better appearance reveals it is been crudely updated — a sign that the tally modifications with some frequency.
The escalation that is steady of number of individuals given by just one Kansas farmer — from 73 within the 1970s to 155 today — reveals just just exactly how plenty of tiny farmers have now been changed by big farmers intent on getting a whole lot larger.
That trend threatens ratings of tiny towns that sprouted from the prairie in a time that is different whenever bigger amounts of tiny farmers depended to them.
Nearly all Kansas’ tiny towns look weathered, used and ignored after significantly more than a hundred years of exodus. Most rose up significantly more than a hundred years ago, to meet up the essential requirements of farmers. They established banking institutions and churches. Food markets and implement dealers prospered.
Give consideration to Atwood, the youth house of previous Gov. Mike Hayden.
The Atwood that Hayden knew growing up throughout the 1950s was a bustling city of approximately 2,000 individuals tucked to the northwest corner associated with the state. Well-kept shops lined Principal Street. Continue reading “‘Get Big Or Move Out’ Farming Has Kept Kansas Towns Struggling For Survival. Visit here a subscription in to the our Fellow Kansans podcast.”