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January 2005
A Farmer is a Farmer is a Farmer
Dear Friends,
Frigid cold means one thing. Farm organizations are giving farmers a chance to get away from chores and take the family to a nice, warm hotel somewhere for their state and national conventions. These conferences are smartly held at a time of year when farmer-members aren’t typically quite as busy with fieldwork, birthing livestock or fixing fences.
Obviously, many of these meetings focus on farmers in their specific roles as producers of one commodity or another. It’s the corn or soybean growers, pork producers, cattlemen, dairymen or the like.
A while back, a friend asked me, "What ever happened to calling folks living on and working the land those age-old terms we all recognize – farmer or rancher?"
I agree. The term "producer" kind of trivializes and oversimplifies what we do. It sometimes even pits one type of producer against the other, which is counterproductive in northeast Nebraska where one diverse farm family might raise all kinds of crops and livestock with a household of pork producers, cattlemen (and women), corn growers, soybean producers, cereal crop growers and alfalfa balers.
Sometimes we miss out on some good public relations if we dismiss our larger responsibility as "farmers". Recent consumer surveys show that one of the most recognized and respected phrases you can use when discussing our food is stating that it was "raised by a farm family you know and trust". Folks have a certain idea, albeit nostalgic, of what a farmer or rancher is. If we become too specialized and too industrial in our approach to production, we lose touch with the very people who care that we exist.
Studies show that family farmers are among the most respected professionals in the country, with consumer confidence levels rated even with doctors and other medical professionals.
The study didn’t test how the public felt about dry edible bean growers – it tested what folks thought of farmers. It’s important to address commodity specific issues like soybean rust for instance. But I believe we should embrace the breadth of our profession in all its diversity and proudly promote ourselves more as family farmers to the folks who really matter - our customers sitting around their dinner table, hopefully giving thanks for the fruits of labor of our farm families.
From one farmer to another, stay warm.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
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