Singers: ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ Man: ♪ Am I very far now?
♪ ♪ Am I very far now?
♪ ♪ Yeah, am I very far?
♪ [Whistles] ♪ Yeah, am I very far?
♪ ♪ Am I very far now?
♪ ♪ Am I very... ♪ [Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" playing on radio] Jeff: ♪ Here I go again on my own ♪ ♪ Going down the only road I've ever known ♪ ♪ Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone ♪ ♪ One of my favorite people in the whole wide world.
Ha ha ha!
Dude... How are you?
how are you?
How much rain?
Oh, 2/10ish, just enough to slow us down... Just enough, just enough.
settle the dust.
All right.
♪ You know, just because it's not winter does not mean that our farm families aren't stressed, aren't a little depressed, aren't questioning their future.
Jeff Ditzenberger, in studio with us, he's the founder and president of T.U.G.S.
What's your gauge on things?
There's so much uncertainty not only on crop prices, not only on cattle prices, not only on milk prices, but also the uncertainty for those folks that have done this their entire life and now they're like, "What if I have to get out?
What if there's no choice for me but to do something else?"
and some of these folks are in their, you know, late 40s, early 50s that have never worked off of the farm.
Right, and that is really the message that we want to share with you today, is, you're not alone.
A lot of people are feeling the way that you are.
Jeff and I talk to them often.
When I started my nonprofit foundation back in 2013, I'd get a couple calls a month, and my board and myself are averaging a couple calls a day on average now.
You know, I guess one of the things I do want to say to the folks out there right now is, keep that faith.
Keep that faith that what you're doing is to the best of your ability.
You know, we can't control the climate.
We can't control the price, but we can control our attitudes.
[Beeping] ♪ ♪ Jeff: I take, like, a huge sense of pride in the fact that what I do feeds a hungry nation... get to spend some time with nature.
Nature can be kind of growly sometimes, but then again, so am I.
Man, on radio: Ohh... Man, on radio: Q-102.
Jeff: Takes a lot of faith to sit out here all day, you know?
[Engine stops] [Plastic crinkles] Man, on radio: ♪ downtown... ♪ Jeff, voice-over: My ex-wife is my neighbor, literally across the fence.
She misses me.
I know this.
You know how I know she misses me?
Because she remarried a guy named Jeff.
[Laughter] True story.
She even asked me to help plan her wedding because I officiate and also I have a little business.
I do some wedding planning and stuff.
I planned 3 of my own.
I'm obviously an expert, so-- [Laughter] But that young lady at the age of 23 had to take her husband off of life support.
They had an argument about money and him buying his mom and dad's cows, and he put a gun to his head, and he pulled the trigger in front of her at 23 years-old, so what do we need to do to change this?
And then it dawned on me.
I'm gonna have a nonprofit, and it's gonna be called T.U.G.S.-- Talking, Understanding, Growing, and Supporting.
Did two outdoor weddings and one barn one.
I've done, like, 60.
Have you?
Mm-hmm.
I love doing them.
But anyway, you willing to put down your phone number?
I know that Tammy catches you once in a while on Facebook.
Oh, you got a card?
Mm-hmm.
But hope we're not saying that we're gonna have to maybe give you a call at some point to get up that area and help a few people out because it's that serious... Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
and I keep telling her, I said, "We can't be ashamed of what's happening because we're not causing it, you know?"
♪ [Dog barking] ♪ Woman: This is the reason why I farm... this right here.
Yeah.
You got milk on your nose.
♪ She's gonna be shown extensively, aren't you, little munchkin?
Oh, my goodness.
That's ice, just ice.
Why do you think I'm starting the fire?
Mwah!
Little munchkin's gonna get grain today for the first time.
We're gonna have to wash him up.
Yep.
Juliette, voice-over: This here is Lady Ella.
She's one of my show cows.
I show her pretty well every summer if I can.
This last year, she wasn't in condition, so I didn't show her.
This is Dora.
Dora's another show cow.
Cabernet there, the Number 3 laying over here, my husband bought her for me for our wedding present, and Pebbles eats doughnuts and bread, and she gets downright grouchy if you don't give her doughnuts and bread about every time she comes in the parlor.
She will actually head-butt you if she doesn't get what she wants.
Ha ha ha!
She's spoiled rotten.
♪ [Panting] ♪ One more left.
Man: As long as you got Keystone.
Yep.
We got Keystone.
♪ Juliette: Come on, Rhythm.
Junia.
♪ Juliette, voice-over: There's not an animal out there that I don't know by name and who they are.
They are not just numbers to us.
They are not just a way to make money.
They are my girls.
♪ Juliette: Huh.
It says, "What's keeping dairy farmer awake at night?
"28% say that they're being kept awake "by low milk prices.
"24% say, 'I sleep just fine.'"
I don't know what the other 5% of the 5% are.
5%, oh, is a threat of bankruptcy, "worrying about feeing my family," and 38% is all of these.
You listening to this, Ash?
Ash: Yeah.
I'm listening.
Minnesota lost 1,211 farms.
In how much of a-- 5-year span.
Yep.
We're getting the same amount for our milk now that we were 20 years ago.
♪ ♪ Jay, voice-over: My grandfather had said a long time ago, "Farming is either you love it or you don't.
There's no in between," which I love it.
I mean, I really do.
♪ I'm pretty small, but I know my animals, which is something you can't see in the big mega dairies because they're not really dairy farmers.
They're just number crunchers.
[Milking machine clicking] [Suction hissing] So I had one cow, I really liked her.
She was a big girl, but she would get done eating, and she would want you to hold her head, and she'd push right against your shoulder while you rubbed her, and she'd actually close her eyes while you petted her.
[Clicking continues] They're like family.
It's hard to believe, but they are.
♪ Jay: This is old because we still had the old feeders.
Here's when the silo was being built.
Built, yeah.
I saw that.
Yeah.
Just think, when this all was being built, I came along in the fall.
Mm-hmm.
Ha ha ha!
That silo's as old as you are.
Yeah.
[Chainsaw whirring] ♪ [Chainsaw stops] Jay, voice-over: This is part of the original tract of land that was deeded to my great-grandfather.
Throw that one on.
I'll go empty this and be back.
Jay, voice-over: It's been in my family since Thomas Jefferson.
♪ Jay: What time you coming home?
When my feet hurt.
10 minutes?
Ha ha ha!
When I start making messes and things don't go right.
Mm.
Midnight, 1:00, 2:00.
The latest I've been here is 3:00.
I know.
Well, it doesn't matter.
I'll be in bed.
She made this one for her nephew, and it's a hamburger, and, yes, it was hard to eat-- ha ha ha!-- but it was cake.
Melissa, voice-over: I don't make a killing.
It helps out.
It buys the gas and puts groceries on the table.
Jay: Very talented, and I'm not saying that just because I'm married to her, either.
Ha ha ha!
Boy: Jay: I see you made dinner.
You can be pretty talented there, son.
Little Caesar's.
Mm, great, more bills.
♪ [Chuckles] ♪ [Birds chirping] ♪ [Chickens clucking] [Snorting] ♪ They're awful darned cute when they're little.
♪ Around here, you keep your tails.
♪ Heh.
In confinement, they cut them all off.
♪ Everything is gone, wore out, or shot, just like me.
All I ever really wanted was to farm since I was a little kid and especially this place.
I know now that it's never going to happen.
They finally won.
This was left by a guy in Southern Iowa that took his life last summer.
♪ Jay, voice-over: All I ever wanted to be was just a family farmer and marry my high-school sweetheart, raise my kids, raise my pigs, and make a little money.
That's all I ever wanted out of life.
Well, somebody screwed that up.
Woman: I mean, when are we ever gonna get this changed here?
Chris: We need political change big time.
Oh, I know, but we're not getting any younger, Chris.
That's the problem, yeah.
Woman: Since the establishment of factory farming in 1995, we have watched our family farms and our small towns empty out.
We need a moratorium today on the further construction of factory farms.
[Cheering and applause] Mark Smith: OK. Oh... Chris: OK.
I'm a independent pig farmer.
94% of us are gone.
Wow.
That's what they've done to us.
Seriously?
Keep the struggle up.
Oh.
It's real, but we can win it.
I know we can.
Yeah.
We can win it.
Pat Schlarbaum: Well, today on "Local Talk," KHOI, Chris Peterson.
What brings you to the Capitol today, young man?
Well, I see a crisis in this state.
We seem to have a few, but my priority is an explosion of factory farms, big livestock facilities which are ruining our water, running regular family farmers out of business.
♪ Yeah.
I was in Des Moines twice this week.
Week before that, I was in D.C. Yep.
About 6 days, I go to Seattle for 6 days, so I get around.
It's OK. And the hogs.
Jay: It's a one-time shot during the election season, try and get the rural and the family farm stuff at the forefront, make them talk about it.
What'd you say last night?
Sanders mentioned "rural" 5 times?
Sanders mentioned "rural" at least 3 or 4 times... Yeah... when he was talking.
and we don't want them to forget us after they get in there...
They always do.
you know?
♪ Thank you.
♪ [Suction hissing] ♪ Juliette: We've been talking about show season ever since the last one ended.
Woman: We discussed-- We're gonna hit the ground running.
That's my little 4-H-er showing this last year.
That's Transformation, and Transformation was actually named after I came out of treatment the second time.
That's just me and Anxiety this winter.
I mean, I absolutely adore showing.
It's the best thing that ever happened to me.
Juliette: I'm gonna have to pay Devon back on Monday.
Tell him I'll pay him back right away on Monday morning.
Ash: Why?
Hello, Carly.
How are you?
Yeah, no kidding.
About the same with me, I guess.
You're not interested in buying two cull cows from me tonight, are you?
Juliette: Dave, where do you want me?
Who are we selling?
This one's full.
Daquiri?
No.
Windsor?
The middle one.
[Indistinct conversation] [Cows lowing] Juliette: How much you want to pay me for them, Carly?
Yep, sounds good.
Juliette: Selling cows to pay bills.
In the past, we wouldn't have had to do this.
Yeah.
It's kind of sad the way it is, but it'll get better.
You think so?
Too much production right now, that's what's doing it, and maybe a little bit with the tariff going on, but-- Yeah.
The tariff didn't help us any, and we took out a loan, and now we got to pay that back fast, and it's just one thing after another that is bottoming us out.
I mean, we're gonna hang on-- we really are-- but it's just tough.
♪ Come on, babies.
♪ Juliette, voice-over: Now and then, I like to drink to cover up misery, and I started drinking about 9:45, and I had a 6-pack down by noon.
[Cow lows] Addiction is something I battle with big time, especially, like, when finances got rough, and then I feel like a lot of it could be my fault.
♪ ♪ Jay: Oh, well.
Where are you taking this to?
Oh, oh, OK. Yeah.
Not getting rich.
Yeah.
Yep, no animals there.
Man: It's all equipment, buddy.
Jay: They've been talking, and, you know, they've been around... a long time.
Yeah.
No.
Walmart didn't do it.
No, uh-uh, trade war.
Huh?
Trade war.
With China.
We lost 100% of our market with Mexico, which we had.
We lost it.
2/3 of our powdered milk went to China.
We lost that.
That's why so many dairies have gone out.
Jay, voice-over: The government borrowed money from China to bail out the farmers.
My check alone was $383, and that's supposed to last me 4 months.
Jay: That's for both.
Woman: For rent?
[Stapler clicks] May take a while to get the rest of it paid off.
Hang in there.
All righty.
We'll see you later.
Woman, on radio: There is disturbing news from America's heartland.
A recent report from the American Farm Bureau Federation says the number of farms filing for bankruptcy is up 24% from the previous year.
It's the steepest rise the farming industry has seen in years.
How you doing?
Hanging in there, not real good, though, but I'm hanging in there.
Talked to the other neighbors.
They're saying they're not-- they're not gonna make it.
Yeah.
It's kind of writing the history books for all of us little guys.
Nope.
[Whirring] The other two farms I talked to, they said the only way that they've been making it is because they're getting some gas rights.
Yeah.
♪ Woman, on radio: Hydraulic fracturing is booming in Eastern Ohio.
More than 1,000 drilling permits have already been issued for well sites, but some citizens are upset the plants are opening near homes within their quiet communities.
♪ Man, on radio: Historic flooding across the Midwest has led to at least 4 dead and displaced hundreds of people, but as forecasters caution, the waters may continue to rise, those living in the area aren't the only ones feeling the impact.
Farmers are expected to lose over a billion dollars.
Ah!
[Clears throat] Jeff, voice-over: I don't know if I believe so much in climate change as I do-- I would actually call it climate shift... but I definitely think there's something going on with Mother Nature.
[Thunder] [Thunder continues] [Rainfall] You can't do anything today.
Like, there's only so much maintenance you can do.
There's only so many repairs you can do if you don't have repairs to do.
This is messing with my livelihood.
This is messing with my time.
It's just, it's extremely stressful, and I don't even like talking about it.
[Rainfall continues] [Whistles] Well, now that I'm looking at certification and accreditation as a mental-health life coach, and they always say that if you do something you love, you never work a day in your life, and I'm kind of looking forward to that.
Like, I love what I do with the farm and stuff, but some days, I just kind of-- kind of wish I could just get away from that.
So this is our Theatre Guild.
Little history about this building is, it used to be a J.C. Penney store.
Down here is where we construct a lot of the sets.
It's got all kinds of wood.
There's all kinds of prop stuff back here.
This is the traveling gypsy robe, so every production that we do, opening night, they pick somebody, a member of the cast, and that cast member wears the robe, and they circle, and then they take a trinket or a prop from the show, and they pin it on there, and they walk 3 times around.
Everybody gets in a circle, and the person appointed wears the robe, and they walk around in a circle 3 times, and everybody touches the robe because that's for good luck, and then this is our practice room and what we consider backstage, so this is our little Theatre Guild.
We're pretty frickin' proud of it.
I'm pretty proud of it.
Support the arts.
It's a great thing to do.
[Birds chirping] [Pig grunting] Chris: Rural America as it is is dying, needs to change.
Take one step this way.
OK.
Thanks.
Yeah.
Just give them a point so we can see where they are there.
Chris, voice-over: This farm, we moved here in 1978 in December in a blizzard and started with next to nothing.
There's nothing like being a family farmer and doing it right.
Excellent.
Do you think we left anything on the table, or do you think we covered a decent amount of your story?
Is there anything else that you'd like to say, or do you think we did a good job?
OK. Yeah.
I think we're good.
We can keep, you know-- You're gonna be at the event today, right?
We are.
Yeah.
I want to point you towards our daughter.
Mostly.
Mostly?
This is a hog confinement-- cages and metal and big money and no animal welfare there.
Do these animals ever leave these confinements?
No.
They never do?
They can sit up or lay on their belly.
They don't even have enough room to roll over.
Oh, my God.
I have been in this fight a long time with my dad now.
Our family goes back at least 3 generations farming.
The problem is, out here, there are food deserts.
There are places when there isn't access to food for 30, 40, 50, 60 miles.
The agriculture, the small family farms, used to support their communities, and they are just not there anymore.
[Train horn blows] Becky: 3 overflowing scoops is what you gave them, right?
[Train horn blows] Come here, bubbas.
Come here, baby.
[Rooster crows] Becky: Where'd Hannah go?
She's right there.
OK. Becky: Um... [Kissing sound] Becky, voice-over: I can't give William and Hannah the life that I had when I was growing up, but if I can give them a little piece of it and have a huge garden and teach him how to sustainably raise animals-- Becky: Where you going?
Peppers are this way.
Are you checking the beans?
Are you gonna come help, Hannah?
Hannah: Can I do this thing?
Bring it over here.
I got it.
Yes.
♪ What does that say?
"Zucchini, yellow summer squash, and patty pan-- a dollar each."
Dollar?
Mm-hmm.
Becky, voice-over: You know, I look back on everything that my parents have done and everything that they fought for.
If we don't carry on their hopes and dreams and thoughts and their legacy, then what are we fighting for?
♪ In my heart, there would be a lot lost if I wasn't able to do it.
OK, babies.
[Whistles] Hup, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up.
[Kissing sound] Man, on phone: When are those cows gonna sell, sometime today?
Oh, yeah.
I'll have the check by 2:30... All right.
so if you just want to wait... All right.
OK. Yeah.
Bye.
[Engine idling] It's coming close to 2,000 that we owe with payroll and sell all these cows just to cover that, but we're still -1,200 if I figured correctly.
[Engine thrumming] [Birds chirping] Juliette: I've honestly had myself convinced that I'm no longer an alcoholic.
Really?
How's that going for you?
[Scoffs] Ha ha ha!
[Inhales] [Exhales] Honestly, I justify it in a gazillion different ways.
Mm-hmm.
It's the nature of the disease.
So you're telling me not everybody has a 6-pack gone by noon?
Or by 9:45?
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.
[Chuckles] There's a lot of people that count on you, regardless.
Aaron counts on you.
You got calves that count on you.
You got a world that counts on you, if you think about it, because how many in the world drinks milk?
A lot of people.
Not enough.
Not enough?
Well, yeah.
That's because you got the alcoholics that are trying to drink at 9:45 in the morning.
Shut up, Rob.
Ha ha ha!
Like, I'm torn here-- I literally am-- because part of me knows it's gonna kill me, and part of me doesn't give a ... Later on down the road, you'll give a ... Trust me when I say that.
[Inhales] I think there's a problem.
Oh...
I don't want to see you be a statistic.
You're worth it to me.
Rob, no, I'm not.
You are.
You are.
[Whimpers] ♪ Chris: Good or bad habit, whatever you want to call it, got some classic cars.
♪ [People hooting] [Snare drums playing cadence] ♪ Love you.
OK. Love you.
♪ Jeff: Nice throw, kid.
My bad.
What's that got to do with the price of beans in China?
[Clears throat] So this is the interactive part where you have to repeat after me, so are you ready?
As you place the ring on your bride's finger, repeat after me.
With this ring... With this ring...
I marry you... ♪ Becky: I think it's good as the first time, Dad.
Ah!
♪ Aw, huggers.
Yeah.
Hee hee!
♪ Oh, I'm so proud of her.
Are we on our own?
What, puddy?
Ha ha ha!
He's trying to come up so much.
Oh, wonderful.
I'm glad you enjoyed them.
Ha ha ha!
Mm-hmm.
Bye.
That was my customer telling me how beautiful the cake pops were, and she is very, very happy with them, and I never disappoint.
Melissa: I've delivered wedding cakes before and not taken payment because I just see the situation and-- Man: Oh, well, I understand that, but you have to live.
I mean, you-- See, that's why y'all ain't going on vacations.
We don't know how to go on vacation.
Oh, you will in a minute.
[Laughter] If you're still-- you ain't dead, you got a chance to do that.
♪ Woman: All right.
Can you turn around?
Like, all the way or just-- No.
Just turn around, face the back, OK, and I need you to scream as though you're on fire, whenever you're ready.
Go all out.
All right.
Oh, my God!
I'm on fire!
Aah!
Get me out of here!
Somebody help!
Get me out!
I'm on fire!
Get me out!
All right.
Thank you.
All right.
Do you have any questions?
Nope.
OK, so probably make a decision by the end of the week.
Sounds good.
Thank you.
All right.
Thank you.
Jeff: Well, I'm actually auditioning for the part of the gardener because-- Exactly, which is kind of a-- You know, with my whole story with my suicide attempt and stuff, it's kind of like a big circle of life.
Jeff: My name is Jeff Ditzenberger.
I'm 22 years old.
I've been farming for two years.
My suicide attempt was a year after I got out of the military.
Now, if you want to fail at a suicide attempt, write your suicide note on a piece of paper, stick it in your pants pocket, and then put yourself in a burning building.
Laugh because it's kind of hilarious.
Like, I use this in my comedy routine once in a while.
That's an excellent setup for failure, but I'll tell you right now, when you get to the point like where I was at-- and my suicide attempt took 6 weeks of planning; nobody picked up on it, not a single person-- if somebody would've just said, "Hey, let's take 5 minutes to talk"... we are not so busy in this life that we can't take that time.
[Birds chirping] ♪ [Barks] Go up around.
Push her in.
[Milking machine clicking] ♪ [Gate creaks] Jay, voice-over: I've just gotten to the place that I can't even pay the bills for my house, let alone feed bills... ♪ and they're escalating.
♪ Come on.
♪ I'm gonna have to sell the cows, whether I want to or not.
♪ It's either that or lose everything, my house.
♪ Jay: Ohh... ♪ ♪ [Engine idling] ♪ Ohh... Come on, girls.
♪ Come on.
Let's go.
Let's go.
Come on.
Oh, come on.
Agh, why do we got to make this harder than it is?
♪ Come on.
♪ ♪ That's good!
Get.
Get.
♪ All right, brother.
Ah, thank you.
I know.
I know it's tough.
Yeah.
It is what it is.
Yeah.
It's real hard.
OK. You coming up, or you're not coming up?
Oh, hell no.
I couldn't.
All right.
This is bad enough.
Yep.
I'll do the best I can.
Thanks.
You bet.
[Cows lowing] ♪ ♪ [Dog barking] Damn.
[Barking continues] ♪ [Barking continues] ♪ [Dog whimpers] ♪ [Weeps] ♪ [Sobs] Ohh... Chris: Think of rural America dying and family farms not good enough anymore, replaced by corporate industrial ag.
I call them the poison people.
It's time for change.
[Cheering and applause] We start when farmers like me stand together with powerful Black women like Senator Nina Turner to say, "Not me, us."
[Cheering and applause] Mwah.
As Mr. Peterson laid out-- and he was talking about the farmers-- and I'm thinking from farms to factories, and he laid out the greed of corporations and how that greed is literally killing folks.
[Applause] Yep, and I remember.
Yeah.
Ha ha ha!
That's great.
Yep.
Again, thank you so much for all you've done.
Take care.
I'm a fighter.
Yes.
You are, and you've raised a good fighter, too.
I have a weak spot.
I care about people.
[Insects trilling] Hanna: [Indistinct] Sanders, on TV: What we need is a trade policy that stands up for farmers, and, by the way, the word "climate change," to the best of my knowledge, is not even discussed in this new NAFTA agreement at all.
Judy Woodruff, on TV: Mayor Buttigieg?
Buttigieg, on TV: We're also being-- Right now, I think we're being offered a false choice.
So... Buttigieg: You either have to go all the way to the extreme... what would you guys think if I was entertaining the thought of running for... county conservation commissioner?
Tom Steyer, on TV: I've been working on this for more than a decade.
Mom, you're very quiet.
Steyer: I've pushed clean energy across this country.
I'm not like some mothers.
I don't try to interfere in your life.
Well, I know that.
Thank God.
Ha ha ha!
Kristi: You got to think of the kids.
That's my only thing.
I know.
I know.
Chris: Well... Buttigieg: Make sure they're promises that we can keep... Chris: long as it doesn't interfere with the kids and everything else... Kristi: Yeah.
it's a damn good way to get your feet wet.
♪ [Birds chirping] [Cows lowing] ♪ Ash: No class, buster.
Milk and drink-- Milk cows and drink beer.
♪ Rob: So what's going on?
What happened to you all since last week?
Juliette: It's been just one frickin' thing after another.
Like I said, our finances are in a mess and, like, -7,000 right now, and I have no idea where that money's coming from, and... [Sniffles] I mean, I try so hard to, you know, plan and make things better, and at the same token, I'm filled with this never-ending fear that it's never gonna get better, and that's why for the first time in a long time the other night, I thought of suicide again... and it was-- I allowed that thought to stay in my head for about 10 minutes.
But it takes moving forward, asking for help.
Quit battling.
Start fighting for sobriety.
Fight for your life.
I am fighting for my life, Rob.
Be honest with me.
Do you think I should go back to treatment?
That's gonna be a deciding factor on you, so now are you willing to do it?
...
I don't know.
Yeah.
I am... Good.
because I've got to get rid of this.
It's the only way to get rid of it.
If you're at that point, you follow someone else's suggestion.
I love you.
Yeah.
See you.
♪ ♪ [Birds chirping] ♪ ♪ [Sizzling] [Sniffles] Ohh... Jay, voice-over: I usually like playing video games just to blow steam off, but I don't like it to be too challenging.
I like it easy.
Too old.
Ha ha!
Kind of helps with the anger... [Beep] and it's kind of hard picking the pieces up to try to start over.
I've put an application in for a steel mill job.
I have no idea what that entails, know nothing about steel mills.
[Vehicles passing] ♪ Melissa, voice-over: I don't even know what to do with everything.
Man: Want me to just throw this in the car?
♪ Melissa, voice-over: The owner raised the rent on me, and I couldn't meet up with the rent price, so I had to move out.
You can take these... Yeah.
OK. um, I think.
Well, I can always go back and get things if we need them.
♪ I'm all right.
♪ Melissa: I put everything into it for the last 9 years, and to have it taken out from underneath of me... ♪ it's crushing.
♪ [Sighs] ♪ Jay: Karen wants to know if you want a job.
Wilford: Doing what?
Driving bus.
Well, $7.00 an hour doesn't sound too-- That's training, so but anyhow, I just-- You mentioned it to me.
I mentioned it to you, yep.
Well, it's either that or get something pumping here.
Yeah.
Jeff: But I stayed out and harvested beans until 11:00 the other night, so I only got 10 acres left.
When you think you'll be able to get that done?
Oh, when it dries out again.
You know, it's, like, you know, somebody said, "Well, like, how much does that seed really cost you?"
and I'm like, "Well, we bought enough seed for a thousand acres, and that was $101,000," and that's with no crop in the ground, no guarantee it's gonna grow or anything, so, you know, you better damn well hope you got a good year.
Leah McLean, on TV: It turns out, today's snow and rain is going to push us higher up the list on the wettest years in Wisconsin ever.
Meteorologist Chris Reece joins us now.
[Whistling] [Whistling] Jeff: I mean, everybody's fighting this today.
I talk to everybody.
Everybody's fighting it.
This was just a weird freak deal.
I mean, how often do we get a snow in November that's-- You know what I mean?
It started to drizzle yesterday, and now it's -13 with the wind this morning already.
So anyways, yeah, well, and I got a new grandbaby that I haven't seen yet that I'm kind of getting a little bit irritated about.
I mean, it just-- You know, it's just kind of everything.
I just-- I don't know.
I'm kind of glad you just let me vent to you this morning.
I'm glad you called me, so-- Jakob Dylan: ♪ Be something better than in the middle ♪ ♪ Me and Cinderella ♪ ♪ Put it all together... ♪ Jeff: Uh oh.
Santa's put on weight.
He's using a different hole this year.
Jeff and Judy Garland: ♪ Next year, all our troubles ♪ ♪ Will be out of sight ♪ God, I hope you're right on that, Judy, because 2018 kind of sucked.
♪ Jeff: It's fine.
It's not a big deal.
Santa will still come to your house.
Come here.
Just-- No.
Hey.
No.
I don't want to.
You don't have to.
Nope.
I'm coming over to you.
You don't have to.
You don't have to visit.
[Beep beep] [Whistles] I'm watching frickin' hundreds of dollars of frickin' corn get left out here.
I'm really not in a festive mood.
♪ Probably closer to thousands of dollars of corn.
This ... year, this whole ... year can ... off.
It's a good thing you don't have me mic'd up right now.
Everybody look up here.
Hands down.
Say, "Cookies."
Cookies.
Cookies.
Man: Oh, good job.
Could you hear me?
Man: Santa.
How are you?
Santa's seen your Snapchats.
Ha ha ha!
Just write it to me and send it up to the North Pole, and I'll make sure that you get that, OK?
Awesome.
High-five?
All right.
Have a good parade.
Ho ho ho!
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, Monroe!
Ho ho ho!
Ho ho-- Batman hat.
That's pretty cool.
Merry Christmas.
♪ Oh, heavens, you want me to get on it?
I haven't rode a horse in years.
Ready?
And where the hell are you going?
♪ She bucks me off, all bets are off.
Let me take her.
OK. [Indistinct conversation] ♪ Woman: Congratulations.
♪ No.
I can't afford to stay sick because it's going to kill me.
Well, be honest with me.
Do you think I should go back to inpatient for the fourth ... time?
♪ Well, it might work this time.
♪ Oh... ♪ Just like last year.
Do these first or do the blue ones first?
That can carry us down there for, what, 3 weeks to go?
I don't know.
Right after Thanksgiving, I think.
♪ ♪ [Laughs] ♪ ♪ Jeff: So what I'm about to show you is the last of the corn harvest.
It has been a year of challenges.
It's been a year of heartache, and there's a lot of farmers out there that are still struggling to get their crops done, so my heart and my prayers out to them.
Here we go.
[Alarm buzzing] ♪ Oh, yeah, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Should be there already.
♪ Jeff: I just want to say, you guys and gals have done phenomenal.
We've become a family.
I don't think we're just a theater group.
I think we're a family.
We've all had, like, our own personal things going on, and I think we've helped each other out in some of that stuff, too, and that speaks volumes.
Jeff as Leroy: I do believe you did kill that little boy.
I was just foolin' before, but now I do believe you did kill him.
You killed him with them shoes.
Fire!
Fire!
Christine: Fire!
Fire!
Monica: And Reggie!
Leroy: Aaghohh!
Christine: It's too late.
Man: Somebody get an ambulance.
Woman: Looks like he's dead.
[Laughter and applause] ♪ You were all right.
Glad to hear it.
Glad to hear it.
That's nice of you.
♪ Great show, great friendships, and great theater.
Cheers.
Hear, hear.
Michelle: My name's Michelle Skywalker.
We're battling Costco Chicken Farm trying to build 500 chicken farms in my state of Nebraska that would pollute our water.
I'm here to ask you to listen to my voice and understand the urgency that the Native Americans' community has been always doing, forced to bring this climate fight to the front.
[Cheering and applause] Chris: Hi, everybody.
Man: Hi!
We, the family-farm system of agriculture, were good enough to feed this country for over 200 years.
[Cheering and applause] Why do you think they want to get rid of us now?
It's all about big money, folks.
We need your help to, quite frankly, raise hell to save the family farm and the consumer.
90% of the meat you buy in the grocery store now comes out of a factory farm, instead of a family farm.
And then they sell this mythology of independent farmers, but then the actual reality on the ground is--yeah.
The complete opposite.
They're lying.
You have a lot of enthusiasm.
Well, I'm positive... Yeah.
and that's the only thing that keeps me going.
I've been doing it 25 years, went through one bankruptcy over the eighties and aughts, and in 1962-- the late fifties was a bad time for agriculture-- my dad was a young farmer.
He got a foreclosure letter in the mail, and 6 weeks later, my mother shot herself, so I can relate.
I'm sorry.
You know, it puts the fight right in you.
[Cheering] [Indistinct conversation] [Birds chirping] ♪ Chris: Not very many people know it, but when I was a little kid, I lost my mother to a suicide.
My dad farmed, and we were going into foreclosure, and she took her life.
I don't think she could handle life, her being off the farm.
♪ You know, you get past it, but you never forget.
♪ They done it to my family.
Big industrial ag, whatever, you know, ruined a life, took a life, ruined the-- It makes you into a fighter, and I'll die fighting.
That's just who I am.
♪ Becky: If we keep losing all of our soil and we keep poisoning our water, how are people gonna eat?
I guess I just want to know that I did something and I just didn't sit at home and watch it happen before my eyes.
So that's what I'm having you guys sign, the petition to get on the ballot.
Thank you.
I'm excited.
Woman: That is just a perfect fit, I think, for you, as connected as you are with the land.
That's what we need.
Yeah.
But I have some ideas of where I'd like to be in the next 10 years.
Good for you.
That's good.
So this is a "get your feet wet," "get your name out there."
Great, Becky.
That's awesome.
Who knows?
Maybe I'll run for an Iowa Senate seat.
I don't know.
Wow.
I'll be like, "I know her."
I don't know.
Chris: You have to go for an interview at the local paper.
You need to get your name out there and who you are out there.
Man: I was kind of curious what you see as some of the biggest issues that kind of inspired you to run for the position that you're running for.
Becky: I want people to know that, you know, you have to have conservation.
You have to have healthy soil.
You can't just keep tilling dirt up year after year after year and throwing more chemicals at it.
It made old farmer dad very proud.
You know, she has the knowledge to do something like this.
Yeah.
I have some paperwork to file for November 3 election.
Woman: OK. First, we need a letter.
[Birds chirping] Juliette: This place was life-changing for me.
I left there at 72 days sober, so, yep, I drank until the night that I came in.
Hey, baby doll!
Come here.
Hi, baby.
Hi, baby.
Ohh!
Boo!
Ha ha ha!
Kids: Surprise!
I see somebody here that's demanding my attention.
Come here, Pumpkin.
I missed you.
Yes, I did.
It feels absolutely amazing to be back home.
Ash: Yesterday we were...
I'm having a hard time not crying.
♪ My husband Aaron's parents want 8,000 a month from us for this particular dairy that we're on now, and there's no way in the world we can make that work.
Am I angry about it?
No, not really.
I look at that as a chance for a fresh start.
♪ No.
I think it'll all pan out just fine.
♪ [Dogs barking] [Mixer whirring] ♪ There's a odd quietness to the farm now.
The neighbors up the road, they stopped dairy farming, also, and when you come past, you can feel the emptiness.
♪ A lot of the farmers in the area here that are still in business, only way they're still in business is because they're doing a lot of oil right now.
They sell their mineral rights under the ground, and they've gotten their checks, and I know a lot of the farmers have just used that money to keep their farm going.
♪ ♪ OK. Do you should have your driver's license, Social Security card with you?
Yes.
Hold onto those, and recent pay stubs and bank statements?
Yes.
Hold onto those and show those to the trustee.
You're the first case at 10:00, so they're just finishing up the 9:30s right now... All right.
so I'll come and get you when they get to your case.
Jay: Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
OK. ♪ Wilford: It says, "It rains on the just and the injust alike," and there's no sense blaming ourselves.
Things were just against you and against all other farmers.
Right now is a bad, bad time to be in the agriculture business.
Yeah.
As bad as you feel at times, you still have your family.
You still have your wife.
You still have your 3 kids, and you still got Mom and I, and, as a minister, I wish I had all of the answers, and I don't because no minister does, and, as a father, I would give anything to solve all of my kids' problems, but I can't, and I guess that's life, but no matter how bad things are, we'll get through it.
That's why you're a preacher.
You preached at me all my life.
Ha ha ha!
Yeah.
I don't know whether it did any good or not, but-- Eh, I didn't turn out too bad.
There's always room for miracles, and that's where we go from here.
♪ Juliette: It's close to the Arkansas border.
Man: Oh, yeah.
It's down in Missouri.
So let's go over the numbers again here quick.
How much are we gonna come out as far as net income with expenses all paid, roughly?
You'll be able to pay your 20% down on the property and not have a lot of debt additional to that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I like that idea.
so this one in Mountain Grove does, though, and it puts us actually ahead because we're paying off everything, including my student loan, going down there with only one payment, and that's the skid loader payment.
So it's a complete fresh, new start for us, and... Man, on phone: Looks good.
looks like it's gonna cash-flow here.
We just got to get it worked out, so-- Figure out a way to make it work.
Juliette: Milk price is actually better down in Missouri, though, than it is here, so we'll be--yeah.
It's, like, $20.75 base, and right now, we're getting $17.50 in... That's good.
so that's makes a difference.
That's good-good.
Yep.
Thank you.
The FSA almost guarantees loans... Mm-hmm.
because they're so desperate for farmers.
Like, everybody's getting out, not going in.
Mm-hmm.
Tell me about your shows.
Can you do shows in Missouri?
Yeah.
Show season actually starts there a lot earlier.
Awesome.
Starts the end of March.
I'm still gonna have to make time for recovery in there... Oh, yeah.
because I'm not fooling myself, Rob.
I mean, I got to-- This isn't gonna go away with a move.
Mm-hmm.
I'm still gonna be an addict down there.
Live each day on purpose.
Find the reason.
The reason is your shows, your move, somewhere warm.
It's getting cold out here, you know?
Yep.
A new possibility, a new start.
I'm seeing growth in you.
Oh, I love it.
♪ ♪ Woman, on radio: Heightened states of emergency across the nation as the number of coronavirus cases soars above 3,000.
♪ I mean, I'm not gonna lie.
I'm scared ...
I mean, I am.
There's too many lives getting lost with it.
It's a little scary, especially when her mother and my parents are definitely older.
They're limiting people in the store about the amount of milk they can buy, but yet they're dumping the milk.
Like, ours today went directly-- I don't know where they took it, but it didn't go to Hiland.
It went to a pit somewhere and was dumped.
People are, like, coming out of the woodwork wanting eggs and meat, and it's just, you're just like, "Whoa."
You know, all of a sudden, everybody's figuring out where their food comes from.
♪ Jeff, voice-over: You know, a lot of us that farm have been kind of joking that we've been social distancing for years, so it made T.U.G.S.
a lot busier, and I did a lot of advocacy stuff on social media.
[Sighs] [Husk squeaks] These frickin' cracks in the ground are starting to make me a little nervous.
The pandemic of COVID is nothing compared to what the pandemic of mental health challenges are gonna be.
How many would you like, young lady?
Well, it's for her.
I've still got some at home from my garden, but I want her to taste your stuff.
OK.
I want half a dozen.
Half a dozen?
I told her it's the best stuff in town.
It's actually better than mine, but I got to finish mine first, and then I'll come back.
Gotcha.
♪ Just not too many jobs out there right now with all the COVID and everyone else getting laid off and... another mine shut down close to here.
♪ Oil and gas is coming in, but they like the younger guys.
♪ Jay, voice-over: My wife, she encouraged me to get counseling.
♪ She's my rock.
It's not easy to admit you need help.
♪ Becky: Wow.
I'm actually really impressed.
That looks good, guys.
Thank you, Mommy.
I did it.
Did you see it?
Looks great.
I can got it.
I got it.
♪ Hi, Rhythm.
♪ Come on, Amaze, big step.
Hop up.
Juliette: Enjoy your new pasture.
Come on, babies.
♪ Juliette, voice-over: Everything has been just wide-open crazy, trying to figure out where we were going and what we were doing and if we were gonna get financing and this and that, and they're trying to help farmers out, but unfortunately, what happens with those government programs is, it almost hits a little too late.
♪ What do you think, Adora?
Juliette, voice-over: Like, there was a couple of months' span there that I literally had literally nothing to eat in our fridge.
♪ For the first time, honestly, ever since we came down here, I feel like I can relax because now we got a sure place to keep them.
There's no financing weighing.
It's just a rental deal that everybody's agreed on, and it just seems crazy to me that we're actually able to keep all these cows.
It's just-- I don't know if my mind is still wrapped-- completely wrapped around the idea that they're home.
♪ Wilford: The trouble with farming is that always the decisions are made with the heart instead of the head.
As my son once quoted, "Farming is a mental illness," and I think that is true because any farmer that has been there long enough has a deep connection with the land.
We did lease the farm for oil and gas, but, because of all of this, for once in our life, we breathed a little easier.
I know that there's a lot of talk from some people that fracking and gas production is counterintuitive because of the global warming, but the way we look at it is that if we hadn't done it, they would come under us anyhow.
We were able to be able to finance and help build this cake shop which is across the drive.
It's just to help family out and to perpetuate our legacy in the community, and the way it's set up right now, Jay will be the prime recipient of the ground if everything works out, and he can continue this legacy on into the years of his life.
♪ This well site has one leg that goes under our farm.
Monthly checks are, like, $150,000 a month.
As a farmer that's struggled all of his life, it's like "The Beverly Hillbillies."
We hit it rich.
Ha ha ha!
Yeah.
It changes everything.
Now you can afford new equipment, and... it's kind of nice driving new equipment around, especially when you never had a tractor with a cab and air conditioning.
Now you don't know how to act.
Ha ha ha!
I've heard people in town say that-- kind of a jealous thing, a remark-- that you know, "You guys are really rolling in it now," and we just brush it off.
It doesn't affect me any.
The only thing I think, well, is, "You've never seen how bad we've struggled all these years."
Why can't we actually make some money... ♪ for a change?
♪ ♪ Becky: Better vote for me.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Chris, voice-over: Well--ha!-- I feel good the day's here.
I'm nervous as hell of what's gonna happen, so I'll be glad when it's over.
Ha ha!
♪ [NBC election theme playing] Rachel Maddow, on TV: We are closing in on 8 P.M. Eastern, where finally we'll have poll closings in Alabama; Connecticut; Delaware; D.C.; Florida, the western panhandle counties; Illinois; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Mississippi; Missouri; New Hampshire; New Jersey; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island.
I've had a lot of people messaging me today, though, sending me pictures of their ballot with my name filled in-- ha ha ha!-- so that's kind of cool.
Brian Williams, on TV: On the map west of the Mississippi, Nicole Wallace, where do you...
I was hoping they'd have something on there before you went to work.
Wallace, on TV: So Arizona is one of the states that the Trump... Oh, there's a little action.
Is there?
Yep, just now.
Holy ... ♪ I'm winning out of all 4 of them right now.
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Do you want to talk to your dad?
OK. Hello.
I'm like TV.
I'm making a projection.
Ha ha ha!
You're probably gonna win.
I know.
Ha ha ha!
All right.
Well, I don't know what to say.
"Congratulations," I guess?
Yeah, I guess.
Yeah.
Like I said, it's gonna be, "Damn it," or, "God, help her," or something.
I know.
It's either the beginning or the end.
Ha ha ha!
♪ Juliette, voice-over: Every single night that I look out that western door and I see our milk cows out here, I don't have accurate words to describe... ♪ how extremely grateful I am... ♪ to still be able to do what we're doing.
♪ The dairy world is a volatile one.
My biggest fear is of working a lifetime and building them up to something we're proud of, only to see them all go out the door in a dispersal because nobody wanted to fill our shoes.
♪ Woman, on P.A.
: Attention in the barns, Ava Andrews, Dwight Robie, and Kasey Clanton, please bring your Holstein spring yearlings to the show ring.
You are entering the ring.
Come on in.
OK. ♪ Man, on P.A.
: And all the other styles out here coming along are important.
[Indistinct] just have Guernseys.
Now then, the Guernseys have so much style and presence.
I mean, just the way that she carries her loin at all times, the way she keeps that tail tucked down to go over another really big [indistinct] heifer coming along here in fifth, but a beautiful class all the way down the line.
Congratulations.
♪ Let's get on tractor.
♪ [Dogs barking] ♪ ♪ Melissa: I had posted on Facebook, "OK, guys.
I'm back in business."
I had so many emails and messages, my book filled up.
This is my life.
This is it.
♪ I'll put him to work every now and then delivering.
Ha ha ha!
Hired and fired on a regular basis.
Now there'll only be two dairies left in Jefferson County.
♪ Becky: This is a good sign of soil health--worm.
♪ Doesn't get much better than this.
This is straight up farm-to-table right here.
Chris, voice-over: She got more votes than any of them, and that totally blew me away.
♪ She's already accomplished something I never did.
You know, we're not going away without a fight.
♪ We're hopeful.
What's going on?
This one here is the prized possession.
OK.
The towel?
Yeah.
Ha ha ha!
All right.
Oh, dude.
Oh, my God, Hank.
Ohh... Look here.
That is-- ♪ [Sniffling] ♪ Oh, dude, I can't even-- I-- Wow.
Ohh... [Sniffles] Oh, dude, thank you so much, brother.
My pleasure.
Come on, dude.
Figured you could use it for your office.
I'm going to.
♪ Wow.
Ha!
I did not know this was done already.
♪ One of my ultimate goals-- and I'm sure it's a little lofty-- but I would love to see the day that the word "suicide" is something that we read about in history books.
That would be my ultimate goal in life.
Am I gonna get there?
I don't know, but--I tell you what-- at this point in time, I'm sure as hell not gonna give up.
[John Mellencamp's "Rain on the Scarecrow" playing] Mellencamp: ♪ Scarecrow on a wooden cross ♪ ♪ Blackbird in the barn ♪ ♪ 400 empty acres ♪ ♪ That used to be my farm ♪ ♪ Grew up like my daddy did ♪ ♪ My grandpa cleared this land ♪ ♪ When I was 5, I walked the fence ♪ ♪ While Grandpa held my hand ♪ ♪ Rain on the scarecrow ♪ ♪ Blood on the plow ♪ ♪ This land fed a nation ♪ ♪ This land made me proud ♪ ♪ And, son, I'm just sorry ♪ ♪ There's no legacy for you now ♪ ♪ Rain on the scarecrow ♪ ♪ Blood on the plow ♪ ♪ Rain on the scarecrow ♪ ♪ Blood on the plow ♪ ♪ ♪ Singers: ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ Oh, whoa, whoa ♪ ♪
