Land Stewardship Project play focuses on moral dilemma
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 02/10/2011 8:50 AM
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LEWISTON, Minn.— Land Stewardship Project wants to get people talking about how to help new farmers get started.
"We've heard from a lot of young people who want to farm," said LSP staff member Doug Nopar.
These people come with a lot of hope and passion, but are having a hard time finding land. When LSP's Farm Beginnings program started 14 years, it's graduates could relatively easily begin their operations. Now, with the program preparing to reach 500 graduates, those who have gone through the same business planning and sustainable farming training are having a harder time.
Land prices have gone up and a variety of reasons exists why someone can't return to the family farm.
LSP hopes to raise awareness of this problem by producing a new play, Look Who's Knockin'.
It's the story of a retiring farm couple, Gerald and Nettie, who face a moral dilemma: Do they sell their land for top dollar to the largest farm in the county or do they begin transitioning it to a young couple who wants to start a dairy farm?
The retiring farmers weresoil conservation pioneers in the 1940s. They worry the large farm won't continue their conservation efforts but they also know the young couple can't offer as much money.
The 30-40 minute, one-act play will be performed at eight locations from Feb. 17 to April 10 in southeast Minnesota. It will be followed by an hour-long community discussion. Organizers are lining up a panel of a beginning farmer and a retiring farmer at each venue.
"Everybody's situation is different," said Nopar, who started writing the script three years ago. "It's a personal decision. We're not trying to tell what they should or shouldn't do. We want to raise another possibility."
LSP member Eva Barr of Wykoff is directing the play. It only has two characters but four actors, two Geralds and two Netties, are preparing to ensure all performances are covered.
Barr can relate to the beginning farmers. She soughtland for her own farm approximately 15 years ago.
"A lot of people are not aware of how many people are emerging on the land and looking for land and having a tough time accessing it," she said.
Nopar wrote the play based on stories from LSP members.
"This is stuff that comes up at meetings," he said. Much of the material came from members' own situations or stories from their communities.
People talk about how much money someone received for selling their land, but no one is talking about who the land went to or the possibility of helping a beginning farmer, said Nopar.
Meanwhile, the message to farmers of "get big or get out" can only take rural communities to the point of huge losses of farms, he said.
"We want people to think about their own situation and think about what opportunities they can create for someone else," Nopar said.
Helping to create more opportunities for new farmers will support small towns, which in turn support the general economy.
The play is being produced with support from the Elizabeth Callender King Foundation, Organic Valley, Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service and the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council.