The university received multiple awards across a variety of categories from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, including recognition for the Working Farms Fund s collaboration with The Conservation Fund.
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.
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 more than two months ago to camp outside the capital New Delhi to demand 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, nearly half of India’s population relies on growing crops on small parcels of land, typically less than 1.5 hectares (3 acres), and farmers worry that without guaranteed prices they will be forced to sell their land and lose their livelihoods.
India farming protests resonate with US agriculture
By SCOTT McFETRIDGEFebruary 1, 2021 GMT
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.
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.