SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

Rains of Confidence

by Larry Gabriel

A recent headline read, "Rural Confidence Hits Four Year Low." The story was based on a bank's annual survey of Australian farmers. It concluded that drought and rising input costs caused farmers to lose "confidence" that next year will be better.

Among the farmers surveyed, 57 percent expected conditions to get worse in the next 12 months due to drought.

Even though Australia's farmers are on the other side of world and the other side of the equator, they often suffer long-term drought the same time we do. Their drought has been ongoing for the last six years in some areas, just like the drought in the Western United States.

In reading that story, it occurred to me that massive media coverage of drought and its threat to our future may be a greater threat than the drought itself. Discouraging words have an effect.

A farmer or rancher without confidence (I prefer to call it faith) is in deep trouble. Farmers and ranchers depend on a production system that is largely subject to all the whims of nature, whether it be fire, flood, wind or drought. Almost all our products can be lost to nature at any moment, leaving us only with that old familiar saying, "There is always next year."

Maybe that is why farming and ranching are not viewed as ordinary businesses. Maybe no sensible businessman could stand to live with the risks we face. The risk of enormous loss faced every year for the potential of a small or modest profit margin is not the most desirable business model. Yet almost every farmer and rancher does just that.

Isn't it amazing how a little rain can improve attitudes, build confidence, restore faith and press our plans for "next year," even if this one was a disaster? That is an unmeasured value of rain.

August rains came too late for many crops in South Dakota, but those rains restore us as much as they restore the vegetation on which we depend for our livelihoods and on which the nation depends for its food. They were too late for the wheat crop, but just in time for the wheat farmer's faith in the next crop.

It rained a little on the drought area of Queensland a couple of weeks ago, and the news story about the above survey said widespread winter rains in New South Wales improved the confidence of farmers in that state. News of those rains yields some hope of something similar to follow in the middle of America.

Crops and grass cannot grow without adequate water. They need a certain amount of it at the right times to produce. Everyone recognizes that, but few notice the people's need for rain.

For the people of the land, every rain is a blessing that nourishes our belief that things will improve. Rain gives us the faith to invest in next year.

The loss of faith is far more dangerous than drought. When our faith is watered, we believe all will be well, if not now, next year.

Mr. Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture


Code of the West rules needed

By: Julie Carter

The West has long been a frontier to those seeking a romanticized version of it or simply the quiet solitude away from the noise of industrial civilization.

Ours is a nation of immigrants - people who have never been content to stay in one place but always wanting to see what is "over there."

The frontier has been the line separating civilization from wilderness. For hundreds of years in America it has been a fluid line, moving westward as men sought open spaces and new horizons.

In the 19th century, people who were willing to take a chance on the unknown moved to a vast, unsettled land that beckoned to the daring and called to the hardy, courageous folks of pioneer stock.

The call of the wild is the same in the 21st century but comes with new kinds of issues that catch these new pioneers by surprise. That newly purchased 20-acre piece of paradise requires owners to realize they aren't in the suburbs any more.

Poor roads, wildlife damage, water shortages, high utility costs and the threat of wildfires are just a few major items on the list for these new pioneers.

Many city dwellers move into the country and expect to get the same local government services they received in town.

They want the solitude of living in the country but they also want 911 to respond in three minutes to a residence 25 minutes from the nearest emergency station.

It is such a common issue in rural communities across the West that many communities have compiled information into publications to be distributed to prospective property owners.

Some of these booklets are titled "Code of the West" in reference to the Code of the West novel by Zane Grey. The original unwritten code - based on integrity, self-reliance and accountability - guided the men and women who moved into the region during the westward expansion.

Most of the today's "code books" cover water rights, split estates and open range. Many explain why dogs can't run wild and why rural residents often have to haul their own garbage. They warn that roads might not get plowed, cell phone service could be iffy, and emergency response time longer. They also address accepting "ag-related annoyances" that existed long before they moved in.

One example is the 52-page booklet from Sweet Grass County, Montana offering information on everything from fire prevention to noxious weeds to billboards. It gives suggestions for preserving viewsheds and designing homes compatible with the rural landscape.

County commissions and a long list of agencies continue to address complaints and demands from these new pioneers who, one issue at a time, try to turn the West into the East under the guise of their rights as taxpayers.

Those that were already in the West before the new pioneers arrived fight to keep the simple basic lives they led before the onslaught of subdivisions and the pandemic growth of golf courses.

It is America and subject to ongoing change, even in the West.

And those ag-related annoyances? They are someone's livelihood that undoubtedly have become disturbed by the un-ag-related annoyances that just moved a double wide home into the pasture next door.

A "Code of the West" booklet might be the answer for those willing to accept the changes. But for most, I suggest making the covers something tasty and edible. At least they'll find some use for it.

© Julie Carter 2006