My Thoughts on National Agriculture Day...

Today is National Agriculture Day, a day that is intended to recognize and celebrate the abundance that agriculture gives to each and every one of us. This day is really special for me because my entire life each and every day revolves around agriculture, at home, at work, in the car pretty much always. I feel we need to celebrate this industry that is the foundation of our country every day, and I do my best to do that. As a nation I think one day is great as well. 

Her first litter of pigs for the year.

The thing is in recent years it seems that the agriculture industry is fighting an even larger uphill battle than ever before. Farmers and agriculturalist alike are being made into these people that no one trust and can’t seem to understand. And by no one I mean your average consumer. So today I want to share with you and anyone who seems to care why agriculture is so important to me. Besides the obvious that I like to eat. 

Headed to the sale barn on a Saturday with Daddy 

To me agriculture is a time honored tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation in my family. I fell in love with agriculture before I even knew what it was, the first time I laid eyes on Lady the ewe my dad was buying for me. And the first time she lambed and I saw those twins I didn’t know if I would ever want to leave that barn. This is something I can’t explain to most I just knew from that day forward that I always wanted that feeling. And I still get it each time I see a baby pig being born or witness a momma cow searching for her calf, or even the sight of the first a planter in the field in the spring. It’s a feeling of pride and responsibility that I don’t get anywhere else one that I want to pass on. 

Learning to drive not in drivers ed but in a pasture.

Today I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures of Charlot learning the love of this industry. I want people to realize that there are people behind this industry trying to pass it on to the next generation and the generation after that. We want our industry to be strong and robust we want to be trusted. Each time I see something on social media or the media in general that shines a negative light on this industry I love I feel a little piece of my heart being pulled with it. I know that the further removed people are from the agriculture industry the harder it is for them to understand but please if I can ask you one thing it is this… if you have questions ask a person directly involved in the industry and please please please don’t believe everything you see and read.  

Washing her summer show gilts

Learning some school lessons at the State Fair

Checking Cows

There are so many families out there just like mine, these are the people that feed you each and every day and would give up everything to make certain they can keep doing it. 

Eating supper on the tailgate of a pickup

Visiting daddy and poppy in the hay field

Falling in love with her first gilt Daisy

Learning the love of the show ring

Being Daddy's gate assistant

And one day she will see this and know she was born into this industry.

Today I am leaving you with this my favorite quote from Paul Harvey’s So God Made a Farmer Speech and my favorite quote about farmers in general. 

"Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'" So God made a farmer.

"In the Winters Chill or the Summers Heat Farmers and Ranchers Work so the World Can Eat"

Happy National Agriculture Day!

Why is Teaching Agriculture to All Students Important???

The first thing I saw on Facebook this morning was a post from my big brother that read something like this.

“As I celebrate National Teach Ag Day with my students and educate preschoolers-3^rd graders about common agriculture commodities in Missouri: want to give a big shout out to Paul Crews, Dan Hill, and Lonnie Burns who weren’t only great agricultural instructors but my dad and two other father figures in my life.”

I instantly smiled thinking of these three men who played a very important role in both Zach’s and my life. These men sacrificed time with their own families to ensure others were educated about agriculture and well life in general. It was a great way to start my day.

If you know me or have been reading my blog very long you know I have a love for agriculture and a passion for educating others about it. Yes I have a degree in agriculture education and no I do teach in a classroom setting each and every day but the love it there. Every chance I get I am speaking with others on the importance of educating our next generation about agriculture. Not just through high school Ag and FFA programs. I am talking about outreach education just like the event my brother and his students hosted today. Where young kids can come and learn about where their food is coming from.

 Sure all of these students that came to the program today live in a small town surrounded by corn and soy bean fields and yes tractor traffic jams are a regular occurrence in their world but that doesn’t mean they have any idea what those fields and tractors do for them. Do you think that all those students knew that the very car their parents drove them to school in was fueled due in part to those very corn fields that are right out their back door? Or that the Marconi and Cheese they enjoy wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of American farmers?  

I am going to guess no. And as an agriculturist that is a scary thing to me. Children of today are consumers of tomorrow. If we as farmers, ranchers, and all agriculturists don’t educate them who will? What will they believe? What they hear on the news, what they read in the paper? It is time for all of us to do our part, yes we feed the world, but if we want to continue that tradition we have to have consumers who want what we are offering and understand our side of the business.

This morning as I was taking Charlot to school I told her about Uncle Zach using her baby pig today. She wanted to know why he was using her pig, so I began to explain he and his students were teaching kids today about where their food comes from. I instantly thought if I am preaching education am I educating her? So here we went with a discussion about where milk, pork chops, pasta and cheese come from (four of her favorite foods). It was as easy as that…If we all do our part we will all reap the benefits of educated consumers who understand how much agriculture affect their everyday life.

So thank you big bro and all you who believe in teaching agriculture for all you do each and every day to educate the next generation. And thank you to the farmers and their families for the sacrifices they make so that my family can eat, your work doesn't go unnoticed!