Asian farmers

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

On the second Wednesday of every month, I buy a copy of U.S.A. Today newspaper (this is another story).  This edition had a story about an increasing number of farmers of Asian ethnicity.  They seem to be getting in the chicken and flower businesses in the Southeast.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-09-asianfarmers09_ST_N.htm

We see  a number of examples of ethnic groups that seem to focus on certain industries and help their members succeed.  Amish and Hutterites are one familiar example.  Indians in the motel business and Koreans in small groceries and nail parlors are just a few visible examples of this phenomenon.   I think there are examples of Vietnamese in fishing.

Do you see any examples of ethnic or other communities using farming as a way to pursue the American dream?

[Red Steele]

don't forget Jewish people in the financial, banking, doctor,journalism, and hollywood professions

[nwobcw]

   I haven't seen any in farming.   All I have seen is the middle easterners in all cash businesses like motels and small groceries, carryouts, etc.

[Canuck_2]

No need to point to just one area of the world.

Look at all the people in farming who originally came from Europe.

In our area you could say look at all the people in dairy who have recently come from Holland, Switzerland and Germany.

It is probably true that if you move to a new country wher you do not speak the official language you tend to settle and start a business where there are others from your background, culture and language.

Oh and to answer your question I have a good friend who was born in Japan 1 year before me. He also ran a swine farm and quit the pigs about 4-6 months before I did.

Still crops the land he owns.

Do not know of any others in active farming in this area and his kids like mine got jobs instead of farming. 

[BA Deere]

Hog farmers of Dutch ancestry "De", "Ver", "Van" in front of their name seem to have a midas touch and raise an obscene amount of hogs. Farmers of Norwegian hertitage seem well suited, I`ve never seen a small farmer with the surname "Johnson" .  Some ethnic groups handle the high risk that farming has become, if a nationality is more frugal they seem to hit a ceiling. Back in the 80`s there was a book "The Farming Game" and there was a humorous chapter about why there wasn`t any Scottish farmers, the answer was when their wooden posts rotted off in the ground they dug `em up and put the top end in the ground and they would do that 3 or 4 times before buying new posts 

[Kay/NC]

African-American people tend to patronize businesses in their own community in the South for teh most part. There are "black" and "white" funeral homes, for example.  Hair salons tend to segregate, too.  That may stem somewhat from the days of Jim Crow, but it has lingered long past any legal form of segregation. 

We see nail technicians who are Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese.  They run restaurants and hire Hispanics to work in the kitchen.  My favorite Chinese buffet place has a classic Greco-Roman decor, complete with charioteers in relief on the Doric-columned walls...which looks totally out of place with fried rice and a hibachi grill.

Many of the convenience marts with gas pumps here in NC and Va appear to be Muslim-owned. 

Many of the physicians in our region are of foreign - especially Indian or Oriental - origins. 

I think that perhaps some ethnicities respond to meeting their own dietary and other cultural and religious preferences.  This makes sense if you think about it. 

Also, people from truly poor countries tend to support each other, live in tight proximity, and crowd into housing in ways that American-born people would shudder to have to do.  Privacy as we think of it is a luxury to most. 

[wt510151]

I think that there are programs in colleges that will reduce tuition or loan interest if the students will return to hard hit and poor areas of this nation. Maybe these nationalities look at it as a way to pay the loan off faster and return back to their own country free and clear. Many of the foreign students that go through these programs are usually from similar socioeconomics levels and frugal. They don't take the American life for granted as much as us natives. So many US citizens are drawn to big cities to get away from a "poor" standard of living. What they don't realize until too late is that money doesn't go near as far in cities that pay high salaries either. Satisfaction should be a bigger part of life than it is.

[Canuck_2]

Kay, you say 

"Many of the convenience marts with gas pumps here in NC and Va appear to be Muslim-owned."

Since Muslim is a religion which includes people from all parts of the world just wonder what your comment means.

BTW local Beckers convenience store is owned and run by people from India. They are Hindu in faith and the only reason I know this is their daughter is good friends with our grand daughter.

Do frequent another convenience and gas bar that is owned and operated by immigrants from Afghanistan I think and I believe they may be Muslim since the woman who tends the till seems to have a head covering but just a scarf, almost covers the hair. Of course some Christian women cover their hair too.

Further down the road from them is another store and gas bar run by people from Vietnam, or that area, no head covering.

Just my observations but it would seem here the only common thing is many of these type stores are run by immigrants who man the store with family help from before dawn to long after sunset.

Oh yes another store in a local village is owned and run by a family that has roots in this country from before Canada was a country. This I know because they are related to me from way back there. And they are first generation store owners, about 40-50 years old and bought the store about 10 years ago.

[Kay/NC]

I am well aware that "Muslim" refers to a religion, not necessarily an ethnicity...the appearance of the people I see is apparently Middle-Eastern, and I have been told that some of them practice Islam.  There are tons of what are called "Black Muslims" in our region, too. 

Not exactly important to me, I really do not care what people believe or where they are from originally.  I do expect that they treat me with respect as a woman in my culture. 

[fernwood]

You can talk all you want about integration but it is obvious that segregation will always be with us in one form or another. Segregation is not just a black and white issue.  

In today's world, people generally tolerate others of a different background because of financial reasons.   Appears that it is getting more prevelant in our country as time passes and more ethnic diversity is present.