Earlier this week, a farm family from rural Woodson County was featured on an MSNBC special hosted by Joy Reid titled “American Crisis: Poverty and the Pandemic.”
Mark Pringle and Mary Jane Shanklin were on the show to discuss the economic challenges faced by farmers across the county, especially in the wake of COVID-19.
At the end of the segment, music legend Willie Nelson was brought on to give the two a morale boost.
“I want to thank all of y’all, and all the other small family farmers out there, for what you’re doing,” Nelson said.
“Y’all are essential, as important as health care providers … You mean everything in this pandemic, so please keep doing what you’re doing.”
Pringle and Shanklin were selected to appear on the show not only given their profession as rural farmers, but due to their efforts as part of the Poor Peoples’ Campaign (PPC), a social and economic justice movement originally organized by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.
King strongly believed that his mission of seeking racial justice was inextricably tied to creating an economically fair society, and this vision and mission live on in the PPC today, as it is seeing a resurgence across the county.
Pringle and Shanklin’s segment on the MSNBC special began with a discussion of the suicide epidemic among farmers, where rates far exceed the national average.
As Shanklin explained, farmers face incredible stresses, and “they don’t want to be the one who loses the family farm,” especially after generations, even though they’re likely “up to their eyeballs in debt.”
She also pointed out how Kansas farmers would greatly benefit from Medicaid expansion in the state, as “a lot of farmers don’t have insurance.”
When asked about current challenges facing farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pringle said that it’s “been mainly an impact as far as demand,” and that “prices are down across the board for commodities.”
He noted that “grain, in particular, is very far down price-wise … in relation to where it had been years ago.”
Pringle explained how “it’s like a domino effect,” where demand problems “ripple down from the point of impact,” say, from restaurants to suppliers to farmers.
“It’s a problem with the food-supply chain being affected,” he said.
IN ORDER to learn more, the Register journeyed to the Pringle farm in southern Woodson County to speak with Mary Jane Shanklin, Mark Pringle and Mark’s father Lauren, who at 90 years old still drives a tractor and helps load grain.
