Friday Feature: The Farmer Poem for Farm-City Week

by | Nov 18, 2022 | Agriculture Awareness, Awards & Recognition, Feature Video, General Agriculture

This week’s featured video is actually one I shared previously, but because it has such a great message for Farm-City Week, I wanted to highlight it again.  The video was published by Land O’ Lakes to bring to life a poem written in the late 1800s by Amelia E. Barr, entitled “The Farmer.”  It is amazing how these words written more than a century ago are even more true today.  Farmers are American heroes who allow the other 98% of the U.S. population to enjoy the life we choose because our farmers provide an abundant, affordable, safe food for us to eat every day.  “The farmer’s trade is one of worth…no man loses for his gain…the farmer he must feed them all.”

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The following is the message was presented by Jeff Pittman, President of the Jackson County Farm Bureau, to accompany this video at the 2022 Jackson County Farm City Banquet.

The “American Dream” is a beacon of light that has attracted people from around the world who seek an opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. It’s a belief that if you work hard enough, smart enough, for long enough, and with enough luck, you will be successful.

This entrepreneurial spirit created the world’s largest economy, where it is estimated that 90 percent of all businesses are family owned. When our nation was new, 90 percent of the population were farmers. Today, less than 2 percent of the U.S. population is directly involved in farming and ranching.  Often in the agricultural community, we talk about this statistic as an alarming fact.

During Farm-City Week, we want to celebrate the innovations in farming and ranching that allow such a small percentage of our population to produce the food, fiber, and fuel we use to feed our families, create and move our products, and sustain our economy.  The American Dream is alive and well, and the purpose of Farm-City Week is to highlight both the unique roles and interdependence of our merchants, soldiers, teachers, doctors, craftsmen, writers, public servants…and farmers, who help make the American Dream possible by feeding us all.  Carly Barnes Montuani, Jackson County 4-H Agent

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If you enjoyed this video, you might want to check out others from the featured video archives:  Friday Feature Archive

If you come across an interesting, inspiring, humorous or something new and innovative related to agriculture, please send in a link, so we can share it with our readers.  Use the share button from the YouTube or Facebook video you like and send the link via email to:  Doug Mayo

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