by Carie Moore
I care deeply about plant and animal agriculture. I care about my kids and my livelihood, which revolves around agriculture. What we do, where we live, how we eat, all depends on not only myself, but almost everyone in our rural states. When agriculture of any kind gets attacked, it affects people, communities, families, and businesses.
Attacks really hurt when it’s -5 with a -33 below real feel (windchill) and trucks, tractors, and combines need to get started and warmed up for 30 minutes minimum to combine corn, to risk getting stuck, to see other crops still frozen in the ground or under snow.
People in ag are tough, but it still hits the heart, and the gut. When you’ve lost a lot of money and time it’s difficult to have the “want to” when you’re down and the punches keep coming.
Farmers are in a tight spot. Not just financially either. There are so many requests for us to be “transparent.” How many of you freak out if you know are you being audited by the IRS for your taxes? You’re not doing anything wrong, so there should be no problems. How many would jump out of your skin if Child Protective Services called and said they had a complaint filed against you as a parent and they wanted to make a house well-child visit to follow up? You have nothing to hide and you consider yourself a pretty good parent and love your kids and provide for them.
Agriculture is in that situation almost daily. You want people to see what you do, how you do it, why you do it, and in some sense show off how cool agriculture is to anyone and everyone you can. But much like how the IRS or CPS make suggestions, that’s what people do to farmers and ranchers. They know kids and families, but they don’t know YOUR kids, YOUR family, YOUR resources. People can make suggestions about ag as a whole, but the thing is all ag systems are different just like a family unit. Suggestions get blown out of proportion due to rumors, neighbors, and the next thing you know, you’re being attacked for something that never even happened. So, your first thought is I don’t want CPS to visit or IRS to see my taxes. It’s human nature. You feel protective of your information. When agriculturists don’t want people to come onto their farms and ranches, it’s not to shut you out or hide. It’s because they want to be protected from what “might” happen. The exaggerated or misinterpreted scenarios get played up and the good things they do get downplayed.
There are regulations and agencies in place for all kinds of occupations. The general public put them in place, so trust them. More regulations don’t help anyone if you want them but then don’t trust them. That doesn’t even make sense to me.
Internet search engines and stories are only as good as the people who develop and write them. People who want to tell me how to raise my animals and grow my food are doing the same thing to the medical profession. They self-diagnose with Web MD and Google before they see a professional. I’m pretty sure if it were legit, doctors and veterinarians wouldn’t spend the money or years of schooling if they could learn all they needed to know about the medical profession off the internet. Same with agriculture.
Thank you to those who trust me and all my fellow agriculturists. The field of agriculture isn’t just about planting a seed and about fattening a steer. Just like the medical field isn’t about taking temperatures and setting broken bones. Many other professions help us all do our jobs effectively and proficiently. Publications like Farm Progress and AgWeek don’t need to be sent to farmers, they need to be in waiting rooms, in the airport newsstands, and checkout lines at Target. We know the amazing things our fellow agriculturists are doing. It’s the places where People and US Weekly are taking up space saying how animals are destroying the environment and bringing in antibiotic resistance where magazines featuring Farm Mom of the Year and 4H/FFA local community outreach need to be.