By Alisha Nord-Donnelly, NDFB Southeast Field Representative
Agriculture seems simple, right? You plant a seed, harvest it, and send it to market. Or you let cows graze on pasture, watch them calve, and again, send the offspring to a sale barn. But agriculture is more complicated than that, much like doctors during surgery. We know they put the patient under anesthesia, fix whatever problem it might be, and then send you on your way home. We grasp the idea of surgery, but if the average human was put into a doctor’s role, they would be clueless on how to proceed. In a similar sense, that is true for the ag industry. Most people grasp the general idea of what we do, but they don’t understand the meticulous details – and that’s okay.
Farmers and ranchers do their best to help educate the public, but more so, we love when consumers reach out to us! We are humans just like you. We are busy, we have families, we go on vacations, and we want to know about safe and affordable food too.
So why is ag important? Agriculture supplies food, clothing, medicine, and employment all over the world. It provides food security to the human population. Agriculture is the primary source of food products all over the world. Agriculture is critical to everyone, whether you are from a rural farming community like me or grew up in the city. Agriculture is important.
Recently, Barnes County Farm Bureau reached out to consumers and demonstrated cost share differences. One of the biggest misconceptions consumers have about farmers and ranchers is that, “They are rich.” We used a simple pie chart printed on a cookie. It was an easy way to share part of our story.
Generally speaking, for each food dollar spent, 15 cents goes to the farmer, 25 cents goes to the local store and 60 cents goes to the middleman. Barnes County Farm Bureau also paid for roughly 210 loaves of bread and 120 dozen eggs for the special promotion. These two products were labeled with the cost share as well, and given to grocery shoppers to help shed light on how money is distributed down the chain.
Consumers were surprised when they saw those numbers (expecting the farmer share to be way more). Those in the ag industry feel fortunate to live this lifestyle, but it doesn’t always mean it’s easy. If you have questions related to agriculture, please reach out to us. We are here to help you!
Barnes County Farm Bureau President Carol Peterson shared the story of agriculture with consumers at two grocery stores in Barnes County during Ag Week, March 20-26.
This post first appeared on My NDFB Life, a weekly blog written by members of NDFB's staff.