– I’m one of the “Echo Gang”, Sandra Burch. In the past, I looked at cultivation with great faith in the future

(This is the last discussion – another answer Sandra Burch’s column “The Sad Life in an Agricultural Echo Chamber” It was first published in everythingwith which ABC Nyheter collaborates).

I know you wanted to downvote a negative agricultural debate.

I may not be able to help you there, but I can tell you how I got to where I am now. Not that I gave up on positive performance, as I have in the past.

This is because I am frustrated and worried about the future and totally tired of thinking about what the future holds for us.

I’m not afraid to take this discussion out of the digital space, but since digital space makes it possible to communicate with you directly, this is where you get my story in a nutshell. If eye contact and physical presence is best, I will happily attend if you send an invitation

Back to how I became a gang member in the “echo chamber”…

Like you, I was one of those who used to look at cultivation with great faith in the future. My partner and I were, and may still be, by definition, “two guys” with a lot of guts. Most of the buildings and sections on the farm are less than 10 years old. We cultivate more land and cultivate more pastures. We invested exactly the way the government and agriculture had planned for several years. We did it at the right time and did it with very detailed planning for the economy going forward. We have done it and achieved almost all the points in the plans we made.

How did we achieve that? With the help of many hours of volunteering from the whole family. Help build new pens, help lemmings, help with childbirth, pick stones and generally a lot of work.

When you have invested and built a farm from scratch, there is no room for paid assistance in addition to your replacement grant. The alternative supplement is great, but unfortunately it does not go very far. When the family is busy giving birth and giving birth in the spring, the spring milk should be taken at the same time. Then, you’ll likely have to use the replacement money on the tractor’s engine, which will happen at the same time as everything else that happens in the spring. In the summer, the barn must be washed, the animals tended to the pasture, those in it fed, and then mowed too. Again, you may have to bring in an alternative that works in parallel on your own. Yes, you picture.

There are happy moments

I can agree with one thing after your column on Alting, everything is not so painful and difficult in Norwegian farming. There are happy moments, happy weeks, and even happy months. We see new life coming into the world, a calf taking its first steps, a sheep jumping happily and playing in the pen. We see our children grow up and we understand how important it is to interact with nature. They learn how important it is to work hard to achieve what you want, they feel a bond with both the animals and family close by, which is what I really wish for all children. Children become rich with knowledge, become physically well, and understand how important farms are to the world in eating. They are gaining something in life that I’m sure will prepare them well for adulthood later, and that I’m sure will make a difference in the world.

Children become rich with knowledge, become physically well, and understand how important farms are to the world in eating.

Unless they get rich on holidays, they don’t experience having a mom and dad who can accompany them to soccer training. They don’t have a father who can spend Christmas Eve. They don’t have a dad who can take the weekend off and join the activities. Indeed, weekends often have to be used for more work, because again it is possible to get help on a voluntary basis from others who also have a part-time job.

The children have a mother who works full time to make ends meet for the household, plus in her “free time” she has to manage the paperwork for the farming operation and the stable maintenance itself during busy periods. They have a father who works so many hours throughout the year that there is no point in saying it out loud. They have a father who may have to cancel plans at the last minute because a barn animal has injured itself. They have a father who can’t go anywhere in the spring because after that he has to take care of approximately 150 animals who are about to give birth or become pregnant.

They have a wonderful wonderful upbringing. They have a lot of love. They have food on the table and a warm bed to sleep on. They live in a safe country and have endless things to be grateful for.

Not negative, but describing reality

What they also have is a father and mother who are often tired and work many hours a day. They actually have a mother and father who both have great faith in cultivation.

I can relate to the positive story you have about Berger and Marthe, I live that story. Less than 10 years ago we were the happy story in the local paper about a couple who made a bet, it was really only a short time ago. At the same time, 10 years is a long time, with an infinite number of working hours, and little positive change in cultivation. We are not really negative, we are unfortunately half reality.

The question I often think about is;

“Have we sacrificed so much, when we come back so little?”

(Votes is the discussion section of ABC Nyheter. Here regular and occasional contributors write about current news topics. We also collaborate with the online political newspaper Altinget.no . If you are burning with an opinion or analysis, you can send the text to the following address: [email protected], and we will consider it).