The Real Dirt on Farmer John

For my Go! Diversity event, I attended the viewing of the documentary of The Real Dirt on Farmer John. The main focus of the documentary was the struggles of John Petersen and how he overcame them to create a successful organic farm in northern Illinois. I learned a lot about the different farming crises that have hit our country over the years as well as how changing his location for periods of time helped him. His story was full of adversity, but thankfully, ended happily. Although, I am not from or particularly interested in the agriculture field, I found many areas where I could relate to John.

First, I saw him learning the ins and outs of farming from his father, who learned his skills from his father. Their farm was a huge family operation that dated back for many years. This reminded me of the background that my mom came from. Her whole family was self-sufficient farmers. From stories, I've heard about their animals, old machinery, garden, and chores. My grandpa is 86 years old, but he still will go out to his farm every day to do something, although my two uncles have taken over now. In the documentary, John's family was proud to have gotten through the Great Depression. I have also heard my mom talk about this. My grandparents made it through as well and now they spend very little money, even though they are actually very wealthy. My mom says it's because of their old habits and their fear of the Great Depression happening again. Basically, for the whole first part of the movie, I was thinking of my grandparents!

Next, I saw him go through college. Obviously, a time in his life that I can relate to very well right now. Because of the difference in time periods, however, our experiences differ greatly. He went to a college close to home because he was still tied down to his farm. I had the freedom to go wherever I felt like because I was tied to nothing. So I choose to be over one hundred and fifty miles away. Secondly, he went to college during the "Hippie" era, so he was very much into art. He would bring his friends back to his farm and they would help him out. They also redid many of the structures on the farm so they were more artistic. My college experience doesn't involve much agriculture or art, just a lot of studying and science! I think it's safe to say we are two diverse college students.

Finally, going back to me leaving my hometown for college, John did something similar. When things got really bad on the farm, he would up and leave. He would go down to Mexico or South America and do farming there. He liked it because there, hands were still touching the soil, seeds, and crops, unlike back in America where machinery was doing all of the work. This lead him to his most recent venture of agriculture. When he returned home, to a much smaller farm (he had to sell most of the land to pay off debts), he decided to turn his farm into an organic farm for many reasons. He loved the crops and the work it took to do it manually without fertilizer or chemicals. This operation also reconnected him with his mother, who had grown very elderly by this point, by allowing her to run a stand that sold his chemical-free crops. As a dietetics major, I love the idea of organic foods. I understand how fertilizers and chemicals make for a more efficient production and will keep the cost of produce down, but I still like the idea of staying away from harmful chemicals that could potentially have fatal health risks.

Overall, by attending The Real Dirt on Farmer John, I saw something different, something that otherwise would not have crossed my path. There are many, many differences between the life of Farmer John and my life, but I was still able to find similarities in between. This just goes to show that even if we think that we are so much different from each other, even polar opposites, there just might be one or two things that we have in common. This makes for a successful world because of the different ideas we all come up with. Diversity will forever be beneficial, as long as we all respect one another and our ideas.