Thankful Thursday (On a Friday) ~ Thanks Farmers!

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by today's Thankful Thursday post on my blog!

Yes, you read that right, and no, today is not Thursday. It is actually Friday today; I'm in delay for posting my weekly Thankful Thursday post. I spent the better portion of the last seven days away from home out of my normal routine while in Wichita, KS at the National Farmers Union Convention. I did arrive back home on Wednesday afternoon, but everyone knows the first day after returning from a trip is mostly a waste. Hence the delay in blog posts.

Anyway, let's get to the matter at hand, which is this week's Thankful Thursday topic.

Did you know that March is National Agriculture Appreciation Month? Wednesday, March 18 was National Agriculture Day, in fact! You probably saw little memes and posts on the internet and social media telling you to thank a farmer and appreciate the Ag lifestyle. I'm going to continue that theme today, and I'm going to build it around some of the comments that our Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, gave in his speech at the NFU Convention earlier this week.

Some of you probably already know that I am a huge fan of Secretary Vilsack. He's from Iowa, as am I, and was fairly popular as a Governor there before moving on to become Secretary of Ag. What I really like about him is that he is genuinely concerned with finding solutions that bring people together, and also in helping people. He also states things as he sees them and doesn't come off as a phony politician. This is a characteristic I can appreciate, especially in today's political climate.

US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack addresses the National Farmers Union Convention.
Photo by Minnesota Farmers Union.

Secretary Vilsack offered many words of wisdom to the convention audience, but something he said early in his speech rang very true to me: "If you're not a farmer, you're delegating the responsibility of feeding your family to someone else." He went on to explain that this is a freedom and a liberty that we have in the US that many others worldwide do not enjoy. If you're not a farmer, you are counting on those of us who are farmers, fishers, and ranchers to provide sustenance for you and your family. That's a pretty big deal. If you eat, you depend on farmers. Secretary Vilsack also pointed out that in the United States, we spend about ten percent of our paycheck on food. In other countries, that percentage is much, much higher. Obviously, these are aggregate statistics and not the reality for every American household, but on the whole, to spend only 10% of our budget on food is really very good. We live in a great country and we have an outstanding agricultural system, filled with variety of producers, methods, and foodstuffs produced, and we should be thankful for that. We are lucky. 

Here's another reason to thank a farmer or rancher. American agriculture is a JOB CREATOR. Ag producers are directly influencing the economic growth rate in our nation and especially in rebuilding the rural economy. According to Secretary Vilsack's speech, the United States has seen sixty consecutive months of private sector job growth, which is an unprecedented stretch in our history. Can you think of any farmer who moved back home to a rural area in the past five years? I count myself in that demographic, in fact. Jeff and I are contributing to growing our rural economy, if for no other reason than simply existing and continuing to farm our land. I'm sure all of you can think of people who have taken up farming or gone back to farming in the past five years. Give them a pat on the back for helping with our nation's job growth!

The Secretary also spoke on some of my favorite USDA programs and intiatives, including SNAP benefits, the dietary guidelines, and many other topics. But, the line that stuck with me the most from his entire speech actually came about during the question period at the end. The general topic of conversation was about the diversity of agricultural styles and production methods in the US. Sometimes there is a tendency for ag producers to squabble with each other over who has the best methods, who is doing the most-right thing for the planet, who is feeding the most people, etc. Secretary Vilsack himself gave a line which, to me, was the overarching message of the entire convention: "Every minute we are fighting among our selves about agriculture is one minute we lose to advocate for agriculture to the public." Pretty big, right? In the end, we can and should all focus on what we have in common rather than how to hurt one another. What tools will help all of us. Leave your bias hats at the door and come to the table with ideas and solutions to work together.

There is a lot of negativity about agriculture in the media today. As we know, the media tends to focus on the negative instead of what we are doing right. Part of the mission of this blog is to continue to spread the positive messages of agriculture to my readers and hopefully beyond. If you are a farmer, thank another farmer for the work he or she does. If you're not a farmer, find one, and say thank you. Let's all say thank you and continue to work together to find ways to keep the American agricultural sector strong. 

Stay tuned to my blog for a few more posts pertaining to the NFU Convention over the next few days! :)