Farmers have more than a job — they have divine call, Pope says

ROME — Farmers got a boost from the Pope in early February.

In a meeting with Italy’s National Federation of Farmers, Pope Francis told them that the work of farmers is a “true vocation,” a divine call.
“The verb ‘to cultivate’ brings to mind the care that the farmer has for his land so that it may bear fruit, and it is shared,” he explained. “How much passion, how much attention, how much dedication in all this. You create that family relationship and the earth becomes the ‘sister’ land.”

The Pope said that cultivating food is a means of participating in the sacredness of human life and cannot be treated solely as merchandise.

He also called on farmers to protect the earth while denouncing a culture of food waste that has reached unacceptable proportions” and “together with other factors, cause misery and suffering for many families. Therefore, the system of production and distribution of food must be rethought.”

The United Nations notes that while farmers can produce enough food to feed the world several times over, corruption and lack of organization are so bad in some countries that food does not get produced or distributed. The United Nations reports that 805 million people — almost one-sixth of the world’s population — are chronically undernourished.