Did you know it's National Agriculture Week?

Well, if you didn't, now you do! And I just wanted to say HAPPY NATIONAL AG WEEK to the many people who dedicate their lives, not just the work week, their lives so that America can have a plentiful food supply and also enough to share with the world.  This past week every nightly news broadcast I watch brings tears to my eyes because of the awful destruction of Japan, and selfishly, I tell myself how grateful I am to be where I am right now.  Warm, safe, and comfortable in my Midwest nook and to know exactly where my family members are, and that everyone else I love is safe as well.  My heart goes out to Japan and I hope we are able to help them.  Agriculture is part of the backbone of America's security and the men and women whose families have been involved in feeding us for generations are the soldiers.  Because everyday they do tremendous work, and it's not easy.  At times it is very hard.  I know this, and I have only witnessed a sliver of farm labor.  This video I found on the blog, The Field Position is a perfect example of what I am trying to express (and it also made me teary eyed).  It reminded me of my family, my hometown, and all of the wonderful people I have had the opportunity to meet during my journey on my own career path into Agriculture.  Please take a moment to watch and listen.  My words don't do justice to its commentary.

Also, if you haven't already, check out my 1st guest spot on America's Farmers.  I'm really proud of it, especially for Ag Week.  I also wanted to mention Chris Chinn's blog, because her post about "Are you a hick if you wear cowboy boots?" encompasses a lot about how I feel about the importance sharing agriculture's story with the rest of the world to negate stereotypes through education.  Please go read her story.  I can think of many times when I have witnessed something similar to what she mentions myself.  Below I have pasted my favorite part, incase you didn't feel like following my orders :)

"As I sat in the (St.Louis) airport waiting for my flight, I thought about the stereotypes surrounding agriculture and how people view my world on the farm. I wondered if the man who called me a hick knew my job on our farm revolved around a computer. I am responsible for all the production records for our hogs, as well as the financial records for our farm. I am also responsible for the nutrition history and the diets of our hogs at our feed mill. I wondered if this man realized the feed we make for our hogs is done by a computer controlled system that depends on me and my family to operate it. I enter all the ingredients, diets and equipment adjustments. Our feed system is not simple, its a science! We don’t just wake up each morning and throw some table scraps on the ground for our hogs.  I have been told before that “anyone can throw some feed out for livestock, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do that.” They were right, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist; it takes a nutritionist, a veterinarian and a dedicated and experienced farmer or rancher to feed and care for livestock. My family has been caring for livestock for five generations and they can tell if a hog or cow is sick by the animal’s behavior. We keep computer records for each sow on our farm so we can look back over the sow’s medical history and prevent problems from occurring. Thanks to these records we are able to head off problems before start.

Am I a ‘hick’ for knowing how to operate a 4 ton batcher that is controlled by an extensive computer program that can produce 24 ton of feed in 22 minutes using 10 different ingredients weighed out to a tenth of a pound? Does wearing cowboy boots make me a ‘hick’? In my eyes, no. But in the eyes of the man at the airport I was a hick."