This week has been an exciting one for those discussing food and farming. Sunday’s airing of RAM Truck’s Super Bowl ad featuring the American Farmer has had online communities buzzing about the images and characteristics that defined our farmers in 1978.
Those characteristics and values still hold true today, despite what we commonly hear in mainstream media and reports from those who have a ‘beef’ with modern farming.
In 1978, there were 2,257,775 farms, averaging 449 acres each. In 2007, those numbers reduced to 2,204,792 farms averaging 418 acres each. Farmers today are actually smaller by 31 acres.
Today the market value of farmland and buildings is $1,892 per acre. That is up from $619 per acre in 1978 - an increase of $1,273 per acre.
“…who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply with smiling eyes when his son says he want to spend his life doing what dad does – So God made a Farmer”
The Super Bowl is the most watched television event of the year. By some estimates, more than half of the country watches the game. Many are just as excited, if not more, to see the commercial break ads that air during the broadcast. This year, Dodge RAM used their ad space to declare 2013 the Year of the Farmer.
The full 2:00 minute video, as seen on the Dodge RAM campaign site, features the voice of radio legend Paul Harvey. Until his passing in 2009, many Americans grew up listening to his News and Comment and waiting for The Rest of the Story from the native-Oklahoman who held his commitment to America’s heartland. In 1978, at the Future Farmers of America convention, Harvey recited a tribute to the American farmer that still holds very true today – “So God Made a Farmer.”
How has farming changed since 1978′s ‘So God Made a Farmer?’ Read more here.
Harvey’s narrative describes the characteristics we look for in dedicated farmers and caretakers of the land. The lines have gained more than 1 million views on YouTube, with several farmers and agriculture organizations putting their own images to the words. No matter your religious preference, the message certainly inspires reflection on the history of this country’s hard-working farmers and ranchers. The scenes take viewers through the generations of farmers and ranchers, from the old to the young, including many landscapes of modern agriculture.
And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said I need a caretaker- So God made a Farmer
God said I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk the cows, work all day in the field, milk cows again, eat supper then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board – So God made a Farmer
I need somebody with arms strong enough to wrestle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild; somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to await lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies, then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon, and mean it – So God made a Farmer
God said I need somebody willing to sit up all night with and newborn colt, and watch it die, then dry his eyes and say maybe next year. I need somebody who can shape an axe handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make a harness out of hay wire, feed sacks and shoe straps, who at planting time and harvest season will finish his forty hour week by Tuesday noon and then, paining from tractor back, will put in another 72 hours – So God made a Farmer
God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain, and yet stop in midfield and race to help when he sees first smoke from a neighbor’s place – So God made a Farmer
God said I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to yean lambs and wean pigs and tend to pink-combed pullets; who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadowlark. It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners; somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and rake and disk and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church. Somebody who would bale a family together with the soft, strong bonds of sharing; who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply with smiling eyes when his son says he want to spend his life doing what dad does – So God made a Farmer
This video is not necessarily a campaign for the Dodge RAM products, but rather a campaign to support the FFA Foundation (also known as Future Farmers of America) and their hunger initiative “Feeding the World – Starting at Home.”
“I need somebody who can shape an axe handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make a harness out of hay wire, feed sacks and shoe straps…”
“Supporting this positive messaging about the American Farmer will raise awareness of the National FFA Organization within the general public while providing significant support to a major FFA initiative,” Armstrong stated in a letter to members and supporters.
“After watching the commercial, I feel like there is more hope in the world. Hope for agriculture, for family farmers, to feed a growing population, to connect everyday Americans to where their food comes from and to build a greater connected community for agriculture in America.”
Thanks goes to Dodge RAM for the recognition of America’s Farmers and Ranchers and for helping the efforts of such a great organization like FFA.
Other thoughts on the RAM video from farmers, ranchers, and the agriculture community
Last week was a busy one for the cattle show folks here in Tennessee. We were in Murfreesboro, TN all week for the first week of the 41st annual Tennessee Junior Livestock Exposition (web, Facebook). Week 1 is all about the cattle. Week 2 is all about the sheep.
It was a busy week for those of us with the University Animal Science Department, preparing the entries, paperwork, arena, and awards. The best way to describe my feelings come Wednesday evening was “show week tired.” Those of you who have been there know exactly what I mean.
Monday was all about preparation and entries. Market steers and commercial heifers had to be weighed-in so the divisions could be divided into even classes of similar weight. Steers were also ultrasounded for ribeye area and fat thickness for the carcass competition (steer with the best measurements for potential carcass performance including weight, muscle and fat). Each day there was also a skill-a-thon for exhibitors, but I’ll share more on that later.
Tuesday everyone geared up for the steer and commercial heifer shows and showmanship competitions. Wednesday was full of registered heifer show and showmanship. In this show, each breed of cattle shows together, divided into classes based on the animal’s age. The showmanship competitions are a great opportunity for the exhibitors to be judged on their ability to show an animal in front of the judge. This sometimes includes swapping animals with another exhibitor in the ring.Everything wrapped up quickly and no one was injured.
The judges were from Texas and Kansas, both really thorough in their comments on each class. As we ran two rings, each judge had to share the mic between each class. It turned into a battle of the coaches and the guy from Kansas won out in control of the mic. But I think the judge from Texas really didn’t mind just talking one-on-one with each exhibitor.
It’s great to see so many youth involved in 4-H and FFA programs and competing in livestock competitions at the state level. As the judge from Kansas was explaining one of the cattle classes as the show wrapped up, he made some great comments that got my wheels turning.
Showing cattle is a great opportunity for youth to learn not only how to win, but also how to lose. These are vital life skills that many people miss out on if they don’t have to earn anything. Let the kids work. They’ll be better people for the experience.
Breakfast of champions at a cattle show and a regular occurrence for grad school students. Did someone say food?
1 of 3 tables of ribbons and plaques I had to plow through on show day
Champion Steer
Clean shavings
Arena after things fired up on show day
Empty cattle show ring
1 of 3 tables of ribbons and plaques I had to plow through on show day
Cattle stalls before bedding was laid down
Breakfast of champions at a cattle show and a regular occurrence for grad school students. Did someone say food?
Clean shavings
Reserve Champion Steer
The Ag Swag every exhibitor is looking for
Champion Steer
Ribbons everywhere
This week I’m at the TJLE lamb show in Cookeville, TN. I’m sharing photos and updates on my Social Media profiles. Be sure to follow along on Twitter using the #TNAg hashtag.
What is your favorite part of cattle shows?
Did you learn any valuable life lessons from showing livestock?
So we’ve heard from many farmers and ranchers about why they are proud to be a part of Agriculture. But what about non-ag consumers? Aimee Whetstine lends her two cents for the conversation in the latest part of my month-long series featuring the diversity in Agriculture. Growing food would not be possible without someone to eat it all. That is why I am thankful for consumers, especially those like Aimee who have an appreciation for Agriculture even without a farming background. Why are YOU Agriculture Proud?
Um. Excuse me, kind farm folk. The woman who does not a farm would like a turn at the mic.
I did not grow up on a farm. I was not in FFA. I did not raise chicks, show a calf, ride a horse, drive a tractor, or split a rail.
My husband and I own a 10-acre parcel of what was for 85 years his family’s dairy farm in Missouri, but they no longer milk cows there. We don’t live there either.
My spouse has worked in the agricultural industry his entire career. I worked in it a bit and freelanced a bit more.
I have some connections, but let’s face it. I’m an outsider. And I’m agriculture proud.
Bottom line, I like food. I like to eat. I like plants and animals. I like down-to-earth people who work honest and hard. I love this land we call America.
I believe developing and using the best technologies and practices to grow larger supplies of more nutritional food to feed a greater number of hungry people is good. Very good. Even noble.
If you work in agriculture, that’s how you give back. That’s what you do for this country and the world. You literally feed us.
No, I don’t farm. I don’t swim on the U.S. Olympic team either, but I can be proud of them. I can cheer for them. Support them. Speak up for them when someone threatens them or talks trash about them.
They are my team. And if you are an American farmer, so are you.
And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. 2 Timothy 2:6 NLT
Aimee Whetstine can be found in Wichita, Kansas and is author of Everyday Epistle. You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook. Go on over, check out her stuff, and tell Aimee ‘Thank You’ for supporting American Agriculture?
This week has been an exciting one for those discussing food and farming. Sunday’s airing of RAM Truck’s Super Bowl ad featuring the American Farmer has had online communities buzzing about the images and characteristics that defined our farmers in 1978.
