A century of one family’s reunions reflects the passage of time and the migration of youth from farms across the nation

     

The Putmans still operate dairy farms in New York but
as young members of their family choose other careers
and move away, the farms, and the reunions, have gotten
smaller. (Photo by Austin Santaniello via Unsplash)

The Putmans of upstate New York make the honored practice of getting the family together something more than special, and they have done it for 100 years. New York Times reporter John Leland, who took a road trip to witness the annual event, put it this way: “Lots of families hold reunions. The Putmans make theirs a serious business, with a president, a secretary, a budget, multiple prizes and a written ledger with notes from every year, starting with the second reunion.”

Leland aptly compares the changes apparent from the Putman reunion records to the changes farm families have experienced across America over the last century. And so do the Putmans.

“It is a story of younger people leaving their family farms for job opportunities elsewhere, of farm consolidation and loosening family connections,” Leland writes. In testimony after testimony, Putman family members told Leland of their decision decades ago to leave the family business for something more lucrative. “I knew I didn’t want to milk cows seven days a week,” said one Putman, now 86. “The dairy industry was a tough business, and they weren’t making any money.” In one family, none of the 10 children wanted to milk cows.

The 2025 reunion hosted just 26 members of the family. In years gone by, attendance often exceeded 100. Leland quotes the village historian: “Nobody stays,” she said. “We’re friendly, but there’s nothing to do here, like you can do in a bigger area.”

In a subsequent post in the story’s online reader comments, Leland may have expressed the same feelings as some of the Putmans still coming to the reunion from afar. He wrote:

Sometimes you commit to writing an article and then later think, “What did I get myself into?

That’s how I felt on the six-hour drive upstate. Then the day before the reunion, Janet Newtown showed me the ledger, going back to 1925. The paper was crumbling, and I wore white gloves to touch it. But it was a direct window into a world — not just a family, but a micro-history of small farming in the US, and a way of life for generations.

Sometimes, you’re glad you took that drive.

USDA will release $3 billion and reopen Farm Service Agency core services

Despite some bumper crops, American farmers have
had a tumultuous season. (Photo by Jed Owen, Unspash)

U.S. farmers are harvesting big crops, but many are reaping little or no profit. To address some of their economic strife, the Department of Agriculture is "planning to release more than $3 billion in aid to U.S. farmers that had been frozen as a result of the government shutdown," report Natalie Andrews and Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal.

Bumper crops should be a boon for American farmers, but instead they are "fueling a glut that is driving down prices. Rising costs for fertilizer and farm equipment are also squeezing their balance sheets," Andrews and Thomas explain.

In addition to cash assistance, the USDA will "resume Farm Service Agency core operations, which have been closed for three weeks during the government shutdown," Andrews and Thomas write. "This will allow farmers to access aid, including some safety-net programs." 

President Donald Trump considered using tariff revenue to fund a bailout package for farmers earlier this year; however, the $3 billion comes from the Commodity Credit Corp., the same fund Trump tapped to help farmers weather his first-term tariffs. 

Before the government closed, the Trump administration was considering another $10 billion for farmers "struggling because of Trump’s trade war, but that new relief is on hold while the government is shut down," the Journal reports.

President Trump will be in Asia next week, where he "plans to push Chinese leader Xi Jinping to buy U.S. soybeans to help struggling American farmers," Andrews adds. "The two leaders are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of a summit in South Korea."

Farm-to-prison programs can provide inmates with healthier food, support area farmers and cut some state food costs

Farm-to-prison food can sometimes help states save money.
(Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

A small but growing number of programs are working to create farm-to-prison pipelines that provide fresher food to inmates while supporting area farmers. "Using nutritious, local ingredients in a prison setting to cook food from scratch is far from the norm," reports Liz Susman Karpfor for Offrange. "A handful of correctional facilities throughout the country are reshaping the unhealthy, tasteless, even toxic diet that has historically been served to people in prison."

In states such as Vermont and Maine where department of corrections are using farm-to-prison and made-from-scratch programs, the objectives are better inmate rehabilitation outcomes, overall inmate health improvements and food cost savings. 

DOC offices that want to begin farm-to-prison initiatives should start by getting support to work through procurement processes. Karpfor explains, "Each state possesses different, often cumbersome, and poorly understood procurement policies."

While some DOC officials may believe farm-to-prison food will be expensive, many times it saves the state money. The Mountain View Correctional Facility in Maine uses flour milled in the Northeast and bakes many of its bread items from scratch. Karpfor reports, "Baking a sub roll in-house costs 5.8 cents, versus 33 cents for one purchased via a state contract."

Kyle Moore, who is the food service manager at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland, Vermont, "sometimes purchases seconds or an oversupply at lesser cost," Karpfor writes. "His staff is testing products from Salvation Farms, an enterprise using agricultural surplus to build a resilient food system in Vermont."

Michigan and Oregon have "developed high-quality kitchen and gardening apprenticeships in which participants receive certifications and can sometimes be paid," Karpfor adds. While the list of states using farm-to-prison models is small, over the past five years it has grown "exponentially."

Government shutdown causes ‘financial heartburn’ for farmers

The government shutdown has left some farmers in a 
lurch. (Photo by Gozha Net, Unsplash)

Farmers are experiencing “financial heartburn” due to a combination of tariffs, high input costs, absence of financial assistance and the lack of agricultural data and other resources due to the government shutdown, Rachel Shin reported for Politico.

“Every day that the government isn’t open, there’s slightly more anxiety in farm country, especially as growers are harvesting and having to pay bills and having to pay off their bank,” Texas farmer Russell Williams told Shin. “There’s serious risks of farm bankruptcies this year.”

Farmers like Andy Jobman are unable to access USDA agricultural data that allows him to run his business or track market changes. Meanwhile, other farmers are unable to access USDA payments for land and farm loans, according to Iowa Corn Growers Association Chair Stu Swanson.

Though the Trump administration has considered rolling out aid to farmers, no action has been taken due to the government shutdown.

Some Republican lawmakers are worried about the situation and are trying to push for aid to farmers.

Quick hits: Radioactive shrimp; soybean farmers seek deal; tractor pulls; veggie-flation; 515-mile lightning strike

Radioactive shrimp were recalled as a precautionary
measure. (ABC video graphic)

Earlier this week, the FDA issued an urgent recall for Indonesian shrimp sold at Walmart that may contain radioactive materials. "Certain Great Value raw frozen shrimp products sold at Walmart are being recalled due to possible contamination with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope," reports Erin Keller of the Independent. FDA shrimp recall details are here.

With their fall harvests almost ready, American soybean farmers sent the Trump administration a letter asking for a trade deal with China. "China, the world's largest soybean buyer, is turning to Brazilian cargoes amid trade tensions with the U.S. and ongoing negotiations," reports Leah Douglas of Reuters. "The country has not pre-purchased soybeans from the upcoming U.S. harvest, an unusual delay that has worried traders and farmers. . . . China bought 54% of U.S. soybean exports in the 2023-2024 marketing year, worth $13.2 billion."

Langford's tractor pull has increased in popularity since
beginning in 1946. (Photo by Zach Jaworski, NPR)

Annual tractor and truck pulls have grown into major events for some rural communities. Little Langford, New York, hosts its tractor pull for two days every August. "Spectators gather on wooden bleachers flanking a long dirt runway, forming an arena that seats 4,000 people — more than the surrounding area's total population," reports Zach Jaworski of NPR. Richard Love, one of the officials at this year's Langford pull, told Jaworski, "It's non-stop action and it's just kind of a big party here." Jaworski adds, "This event in Langford has been held annually since 1946."

After U.S. Department of Labor agents zeroed in on the Marino family farm in New Jersey and uncovered a paperwork violation, they shackled the family's business with administrative red tape, fines and a ruling from a DOL court. Finally, after years of litigation, "a panel of independent federal judges unanimously ruled DOL’s actions in violation of the Constitution. . . and the Marinos were vindicated," reports Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. But the DOL's damage remains -- the Marino family farm that operated for 125 years is gone. Joe Marino told Bennett, "I never thought honesty and facts wouldn’t matter in America, but that’s what happened."

Chart by Axios, from Bureau of Labor data

As U.S. consumers watch the prices for essentials continue to fluctuate, produce costs could become the next budget worry. "Wholesale prices for fresh veggies soared by a record amount last month, foreshadowing a possible spike at the grocery store soon," reports Ben Berkowitz of Axios. "The Producer Price Index for July rose at the fastest clip in three years, far more than economists expected. . . . Per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it's also the largest monthly increase ever recorded in a summer month (June-August), in figures that go back to 1947." 

A visualization of the megaflash that extended 515 miles, roughly the distance from Dallas to Kansas City, Mo. (Photo by Michael Peterson, GTRI via The Wall Street Journal)

The raw energy released in an average lightning bolt could power a small town for an entire day. With that in mind, consider the energy released during a recently detected lightning flash that zipped along the Great Plains in 2017. It was a "record-setting strike that lasted more than seven seconds and stretched 515 miles, from eastern Texas almost to Kansas City, Mo.," reports Eric Niiler of The Wall Street Journal. "The massive size of the megaflash, which touched ground in five states in 2017, was revealed by a new analysis of satellite imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. . . . The average lightning strike is between 2 and 10 miles long."

New tax law marks $60 billion for farm subsidies, but little of it is expected to reach smaller farming operations

New farm subsidy money won't reach many smaller
farmers. (Adobe Stock photo)

While the new tax bill sets aside $60 billion in farm subsidies, how the money is divided is just as crucial for farmers who need assistance. Some experts worry that uneven subsidy distribution "could worsen disparities between farms in an industry already struggling with consolidation," reports Linda Qiu of The New York Times. Who gets what depends on what crops are grown. "Large farms, particularly those in the South, [are] poised to reap the most benefits."

In Gaines County, Texas, 600 farms are set to receive "an additional $258 million in government payments over the next decade," Qiu writes. "Along the coast of California, 1,000 farms in Monterey County will collectively receive just $390,000 in additional payments, according to one analysis."

Smaller farms are unlikely to get the help they need to fend off harm from volatile markets and increasingly high input and labor costs. Qiu reports, "Owners of smaller farms and independent producers who grow fresh fruits and vegetables or raise livestock have expressed concern that the distribution of funding will only deepen the consolidation of an industry that has lost over 300,000 farms in the past two decades."

The largest chunk of subsidy funding "will go toward increasing payments to farmers enrolled in price and revenue support programs covering 22 commodity crops, or major crops like corn and soybeans," Qui adds. "Farmers of those crops, which are concentrated in the South, are expected to see the biggest benefits." For many of those farmers, the additional income will provide support in difficult times and prevent farm bankruptcies.

But for other farmers, the bill lends no such cushion, and many believe the subsidies are a handout for large agricultural operations. Qui reports, "The National Family Farm Coalition, which supports smaller farms, warned that the law was short-sighted, unnecessarily favoring large corporations."

Vincent H. Smith, an agricultural economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, told Qiu, "“The monies are not flowing to small- and medium-sized family farms. They’re flowing overwhelmingly to the largest producers.”