To The Editor
The five year, 2022 Ag Census is just out and the news for the family farm is very ugly.  This census happens every five years and the latest covers the time span from 2017 to 2022, and it covers every state.
In Idaho, the census showed 2119 family farms were lost, which is more than one family farm lost daily in a five year span.
Idaho lost 144,000 acres of farm ground, most going into housing developments. Nationwide, 142,000 family farms were lost as well as twenty million acres of farm groundto development.
The family farm is the backbone of this country. The best people come from the family farms. The best kids come from the family farms.
I was born in Reubens, Idaho on a family farm and have lived here all my life, 83 years. When I was young Reubens was a thriving community. Now it is almost a ghost town. There were over 100 farms here that hauled grain to the local elevator. Now there are four left.
We have a government that has spent billions on programs that never work. The price of wheat in the 40’s was $2 a bushel and now it is a little over $4. It is impossible for a family to make a living.
If you think food prices are high now, just wait until the world corporations control your food supply.
The most important person in the world is the farmer. Without the farmer the doctor starves.
Gary Willson
Reubens, Idaho