FINGAL, N.D. -- I enjoyed Tom Kenworthy's recent opinion article ("Farmers need a steady climate," Page 4, June 15, Agweek).
My wife and I have been certified organic farmers for more than 16 years. We work with nature without the use of any chemical inputs. I have been actively farming for more than 43 years, so I have seen every weather pattern imaginable in our area, or so I thought.
In 1987, we had a model year; every weather pattern was predictable. When I filed income taxes in 1988, I told our tax accountant if I could have 10 more years like that one, I'd have to retire. We have not had one since.
We were burned out in 1988 and '89, then flooded in 1993 and '97, and so on.
Farming is my life, and when something is destroying my livelihood, I want to know about it. So, in 1993, I started researching rocket technology after seeing so much media coverage about NASA.
ADVERTISEMENT
While studying the history, it started to seem like the more rocketing, the more weather-related destruction. There were bad years in the '30s after Germany began testing rockets, in the 1980s a few years after the shuttle Challenger crashed, then after Russia built the Mir space station.
City slickers just have to take the blinders off and report what really is causing all the world's disasters, rather than blame Mother Nature.
If everyone keeps it up, you'll be starving, fat and sick from eating all this chemical-laden food while watching satellite television.
Editor's Note: Buchholz farms in Fingal, N.D.
