Brown While every day should celebrate agriculture, National Ag Week is the perfect opportunity for the community to gather to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by the American farmer. Because American consumers have become further and further removed from the farm, it is vital to agriculture that we do as much as possible to promote the industry that we care so much about.

Agriculture has been an easy target for activist groups, and the current environment is especially brutal. Entirely too many falsities and misconceptions exist, making it challenging for consumers to decipher what information is truthful. For consumers that do not have agriculture backgrounds, increasing awareness about farming practices, livestock production, and crop production allows them to be better prepared to determine fact from fiction, and enhances their abilities to make informed choices for their families.

Farmers and those involved in agriculture have a wonderful story to tell about their operations and their dedication to producing food to feed the world. Now is the time to share your story and promote agriculture. Agriculture producers are innovative, hard-working, dedicated individuals who are environmental stewards and caretakers of the land. By using modern production techniques to increase the quality and quantity of the food produced, one farmer today can supply food for 144 people in the U.S. and abroad. This is more than five times what one farmer could supply in the 1960s.

Those involved in agriculture must stick together to promote the industry in order to preserve its future for the next generations. When you are proud of something you are involved in, you need to promote it. Your experiences and knowledge may seem “ordinary” to you, but to someone outside the world of agriculture, you can be an extraordinary resource. Take the time to tell the amazing tale of how America’s farmers feed, clothe, and fuel the world, not just during National Ag Week, but as often as you can.