"Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees" by Qynn

Abstract: Farmers are the backbone of our economy, but they are breaking under the strain. They
spend hours on end dealing with tremendous amounts of paperwork, stressing over impossible
problems, and praying that God will give them good weather for the harvest. They are the hidden
heroes of God’s green earth—working day after day but getting little to no pay. Small local
farmers are not receiving enough income to continue farming or caring for their families. A
farmer’s fruit goes through a process—put in warehouses, sold by a seller, and placed in grocery
stores to be sold to consumers. Once the consumer buys the fruit, the money begins to flow
backward. Say the seller prices a bin of fruit for five dollars and the grocery store buys that bin,
the seller will take two dollars of those five, one for income and one to cover the costs, the
warehouse will do the same, but by the time the money reaches the farmer only one dollar is left.
The farmer—the one who supplies all those other people with their products is earning no
income. The industrialization of agriculture has created an economic divide between grocery
stores, agriculture companies, and farmers, forcing the farmer to be paid last instead of first. This
current structure puts farmers out of business and disheartens orchardists from continuing their
farms. When this happens, who will grow the food if the farmer disappears?

This podcast features music by Wyatt Darnell, alumni of The River Academy. If you want more information about his music, or about anything else we've discussed here, email us at podcast@theriveracademy.org

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