The Faces of Agriculture

    I fortunately grew up knowing many people in the agriculture industry. So when I think of a farmer I can picture my dad, mom, brother and several neighbors and friends as well. But what if you never met a farmer or anyone in the industry? What if your whole life was spent in a city or town and you only knew what you saw in a book or in a magazine? Your view of a farmer would be totally different, wouldn't it?

   Many of the people with no previous connection to Ag often have two preconceptions of farmers. Either they feel we are stuck in the past and live a very simple life of straw hats and pitch forks. Or that farms are these large faceless factories trying to poison them! These are wild notions as neither is based in fact or is true at all. The fact is that farms are very diverse and each one is set up differently. All the way from the small roadside vegetable farm to the large cattle ranches and broad acre farms. They all can tell a story of how the men and women who work there take pride in growing or raising safe healthy food.

   Many farms are using technology to farm better and more efficiently. From seed development to equipment advancements agriculture has come a long way since the horse and plow. Today's farmers are utilizing global positioning and auto steer on many of their equipment to be able to apply nutrients and seed more precisely. This technology helps farmers apply just what is needed to grow the crop with very little wasted nutrients. We are growing more with less as farming advances!

   But there are many outside of our industry trying to tell our story to fit their agenda. They share images that vilify farmers and show a very distorted view of what we do. So maybe we should take the lead instead of allowing others to tell the story of Agriculture! We are the ones on the ground doing the work and have the opportunity to show everyone the truth about farming.

   Whenever I'm in the city much to the dismay of my kids I often get around to mentioning that I'm a farmer. Sometimes I get very sincere questions and sometimes they just say "you don't look like a farmer" It always makes me wonder what image of a farmer do they have in their head? Have we allowed others to set that image of our industry?

   The story books many grew up with show a stereotypical type of farmer. One walking around a barnyard with a straw hat and a piece of wheat straw in their mouth. Todays farmer deals with high tech equipment and machinery daily. From the dairy farmer to the grain farmer we have to understand technology and most of the industry has embraced it as a way to do a better and safer job of farming. The level of education in our industry is as high as many others also. From College and University graduates to those who worked in many other industries before choosing to farm and some still work two jobs. Many of the values of the farms in the past remain but the farms themselves have utilized advanced technology as fast as any other industry out there.

   So what do the Faces of Agriculture look like? That was the question I posed to others in my industry and many of them responded. Families working side by side or with their livestock. These man and women work very hard day in and day out to produce safe healthy food for themselves, their families and all of you. The 2% feeding the other 98% allowing them to work in other industries making all our lives better!

So if you are a farmer or work in Ag, never be afraid to share with others that you are a part of the agricultural industry. Tell your story on social media. Share pictures of what farming really is all about. Answer the questions in the grocery line and tell them about our great industry. Represent us well, you may be the only farmer they ever meet and you speak for us all

And you could end up being the positive "Face of Agriculture"...

Check out #FacesOfAgriculture on Social Media

Kowalchuk Farms