Thank An Iowa Farm Family
Today is national agriculture day…the first one was back in 1973, dedicated to increasing the public’s awareness of agriculture’s vital role in our society…or so says the website of the Agriculture Council of America, the folks who came up with the idea.
If you’re hearing this, you probably don’t need to be convinced about the pivotal role agriculture plays in the vitality of the globe. Even those of us without an ag background understand what goes into operating a farming operation…large or small, family or corporate.
It’s a shame that so many folks around the country don’t recognize the risk involved with planting a crop, or raising livestock. Weather…market forces…moves by government…action taken halfway around the world in places we would be hard pressed to find on a map—it all can play a role in whether those on the farm have a good year, or a bad one.
How many folks who complain about the cost of food in the store would be willing to stake their financial future on a career with such risks? Not many.
If those in government had a better understanding of the fact that their food does not come from the grocery store, then maybe we’d have had a good five-year farm bill done on time last year. But the way it’s looking, they won’t get one done this year either…after all, we’re six months into the fiscal year, and four days away from another government shutdown because there’s no federal budget.
In one respect, Iowa’s proud, hard-working farm families don’t need me sounding their praises; then again, we all should be…because without them, we don’t have food to eat or clothes to wear…and the best farmland on the planet would go to waste.
So thanks yet again to Iowa’s agribusiness community on this national agriculture day…you literally feed the world. And you should be appreciated more than one day a year for it.
