Feb 1, 2021 2:11 PM EDT
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Images of thousands of farmers streaming into India’s capital on tractors and carrying banners to decry potentially devastating changes in agricultural policy can seem a world away, but the protests in New Delhi raise issues that resonate in the United States and have led to dramatic change in rural America.
Indian farmers have left their homes to march through New Delhi in a desperate effort to force the repeal of laws they believe would end guaranteed pricing and force them to sell to powerful corporations rather than government-run markets. Despite decades of economic growth, up to half of India’s population relies on growing crops on small parcels of land, typically less than 3 acres, and farmers worry that without guaranteed prices they will be forced to sell their land and lose their livelihoods.
Decades later, those memories remain fresh for Rick Juchems, whose parents had to sell their 640-acre farm in Iowa. Just as feared by those protesting in India, the American farmers lost their livelihoods and sense of identity.
“We were just trying to stay alive,” said Juchems, who later was able to continue farming thanks to his in-laws. “That’s what you work all your life for and then it’s gone.”
Rural economies in the Midwest that had been declining for decades were devastated by the farm crisis. But while many farmers who survived emerged more prosperous, the communities near them continued to struggle. Researchers fear the same could happen in India if New Delhi refuses to repeal the law that favors corporate farming.
India farming protests resonate with U.S. agriculture
The images are reminiscent of America s farming crisis in the late 1970s when tractors were parked on the National Mall.
By SCOTT McFETRIDGEAssociated Press
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Protesting farmers march to the capital during India s Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi, India, on Jan. 26. Farmers are increasingly worried about their livelihoods under laws they believe would end guaranteed pricing and force them to sell to powerful corporations rather than government-run markets. Altaf Qadri/Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa Images of thousands of farmers streaming into India’s capital on tractors and carrying banners to decry potentially devastating changes in agricultural policy can seem a world away, but the protests in New Delhi raise issues that resonate in the United States and have led to dramatic change in rural America.