The Writing on the Wall

 As the Ag United Intern, I get exposed to lots of opportunities to educate people about agriculture at different events. At last month’s Moms Day on the Farm events, 60 Sioux Falls area moms toured  beef, hog and dairy farms to learn more about where their food comes from. While all the farmers, industry representatives and speakers did a fantastic job of talking to the moms, one thing said at lunch the last tour really stuck in my mind as something to blog about. We were eating at the Tri-Valley School, and Dr. Stacy Scramlin, meat scientist from SDSU, looked up at the wall in the lunch area where the words PRIDE, PURPOSE and PASSION were painted underneath the school’s mascot. She said to the crowd “If you only take one thing away from today, look up at those three words and remember that farmers take pride in what they do, they have the purpose of feeding the world, and as you have seen today, are passionate about their animals and way of life. "



Brian Alderson

 We all know the farmer’s Purpose – feed the world. And with the world growing at 222,239 people PER DAY, farmers strive to produce more food with less land. On average, one farmer produces enough food to feed 155 people!

Karen Hofer shows moms a piglet

 

America’s farmers certainly have something to have Pride in. Producing the world’s cheapest, safest, most abundant food supply is a pretty big deal. Farmers love sitting down and talking to each other about their crops and cattle – and when one compliments another, their face lights up.

Laura Nielson

The final word on the wall is Passion. To every mom on the tours, it was pretty obvious that every farmer visited had passion about their operation. Brian Alderson held their attention for twenty minutes when talking about his hoop barns. Ferlyn Hofer and his family talked about their pigs and sheep, and even brought out some brand new baby piglets to meet the moms. Doug VanDuyn spoke to the women about his feedlot and beef industry – and all the women commented later that he really really loved his cows. After visiting the Nielson Dairy, moms commented that they could really see the passion in Laura’s eyes when she talked about her cows.

Doug VanDuyn

Telling the story of farming is so important, and through Moms Day on the Farm Events, moms saw the Purpose Pride and Passion in the farms they visited, and realized that every farm in America has those same qualities. Moms on the tours commented that “I have a face to put with where my food comes from, and I really like that”. As for me, I learned more about how to talk to consumers from all of our awesome farmers and presenters - and found three more words to talk about when people ask me about farming.