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The third week of March is National Agriculture Week, with March 20th celebrating National Ag Day. Americans across our nation will hear and see our media celebrating the farmer. Good or bad, agriculture continues to rise above as it catches the headlines of our national media outlets Brownfield Radio, CBS, Fox, etc.
The ag community is strong, well networked and has a loud voice. You’ll find advocates of particular commodity groups on all levels of social media and they’re proud to state their status. Take twitter handles for example. Fellow twitterer and writer for High Plains Journal, @JennBremer is proud of her beef, while ag broadcaster @AndyVance has the “Thank A Farmer” logo in his handle.
When it comes to brands aligning with groups that are anti-agriculture, get ready, because this type of news will spread like a Texas wildfire among agriculture networks. Take YellowFail for example. Wine brand YellowTail chose to donate to the HSUS. ”Ag-vocates” didn’t take this news lightly and developed the campaign YellowFail with over 4,000 Facebook fans (note this is more than YellowTail FB fans.) Twitterers were crazed sharing this news and many have since dumped their wine and won’t support the brand again.
In the end, stand in your kitchen, open the cupboards, freezer and refrigerator and realize that a farmer stocked them. If it weren’t for new and developing technologies, livestock producers, row crop farmers, and vegetable farmers, would you really be able to grow all of that food yourself? Didn’t think so. Let’s celebrate agriculture by remembering all of its touch points each morning when you rise out of bed to put on your cotton socks, eat an egg, pork sausage omelette, and drink some orange juice or milk. Point this out to your children and inform them where their food and products “REALLY” come from – the farmer, not Wal-Mart!
To learn more about agriculture, visit these sites: Ag Day, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Cotton ,Beef, National Pork Producers Council , National Dairy Council, Sheep and Eggs.
Author: Bellana Putz
www.lessingflynn.com
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Well framed, Ad Mavericks. Makes me think about my relatives that lived off the land for generations before I was born, and that my own mother once had to do chores before school. It grounds me to think about the fact that my mom and dad both had farm animals in their yards growing up. One was a city kid and one a country kid. We’ve stepped too far away from our roots. Makes me want to put on some chore boots and head to the barn with my uncle. Nothing like a little fresh air and hard work. Farmers rock.
Claire, Thanks for the read. Your comments are inspiring as this is a time of year on our farm where it can be frustrating and gratifying all in the same hour. As cattle producers we endure challenging weather conditions such as snow that can make it just a challenge to feed cattle. I take it very personally when HSUS and PETA ‘dis’ livestock producers for mis-treatment of livestock (there are bad eggs in every industry.) My entire life has been scheduled around the well-being of our livestock, as a result vacations have been cancelled, appointments have been missed and schedules have been modified. While it can be disappointing at the moment, I understand the long term benefits and this is why we chose to raise children on the farm. We hope they understand responsibility, the paybacks of hard work, and the sacrifices made to achieve a goal.
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