So You Want to be a Farmer?

By H. Kent Aguillard

The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. 
2 Timothy 2:6

​Life as I experienced growing up on “the farm” was simple, sheltered, structured, safe – generally a life any right-thinking parent would want for his or her children. There was no divorce (we didn’t know anyone who was divorced), rampant government programs, $3 or more per gallon diesel, COVID 19, telephones without a cord attached to the wall, Sunday football games before 1 p.m., a Sunday without worship – you get the idea. We wore hand-me-downs to church and Sunday was the only day my daddy didn’t work. 
 
By now you’re thinking, “Who is this baby-boomer guy and what is he talking about?” If you are younger than, hmmm, 58 I’d say you probably have no clue to that which I refer. Life on the farm was America at its best. We got many of our soldiers, sailors, airman, and Marines from “the farm”. 
 
Then came bigger, stronger, faster everything. Equipment with computers, massive and many government programs, credit, debt, faster, faster, and faster everything. Well, “With shekels come shackles.” You know that of which I speak. The Bible says the borrower is the slave of the lender. That’s not God’s design for man. 
 
I read some articles about how we should be thankful for this and that, how we are “blessed”, and a brief mention of some “good” things. There is one major problem with those articles, there is not one mention of the Most High God or Jesus the Lord Christ from Whom come the blessings. Why are we fearful of saying “Thank you God, our Father”? Last time I checked “Jesus” wasn’t on the list of “bad” words. 
 
There, I said it, God and Jesus. I suspect the last thing you expected was an article about farming, debt, what can be done about it that mentions God and Jesus (hey c’mon its almost Christmas) written by a lawyer.
 
There are machinations and remedies created by man to address debt. Some are really good and as the Supreme Court wrote over a hundred years ago, “Bankruptcy is for the honest but unfortunate debtor.”  One remedy is the Small Business Reorganization Act referred to by those of us in that legal industry as “SBRA” (“say bruh”). That is version of chapter 11 reorganization tailored to small business such as family farmers have. There is also chapter 12 which has been around for a good while that was enacted for farmers and ranchers. Personally, I prefer the SBRA vehicle. I’m told President Trump was instrumental in getting SBRA enacted. I know he signed it into law. 
 
I am new to Louisiana Farm and Ranch as a contributor. I like reading it. While the offerings of institutional pundits, officials, program leaders, etc. are informative, it appeared to me you needed to hear something else, something different, something informative and encouraging. 
 
Brothers and sisters on the farm and ranch, don’t give up! There is more to life than $1,000 per ton fertilizer, six figure crop loans, government subsidies no one really comprehends, disconnected Washington D.C., and low prices for what you produce. Remember Who made the dirt you plow. “I am the God of all flesh, is there anything too difficult for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27 is true. 
 
Be careful from whom you take advice. Give thanks to the One you should thank. Christmas is not about presents but His presence. God is still in business and He loves farmers and ranchers. He’s only a bent knee away. 
 
Kent Aguillard