March 18 Valley Life column

March 18 Valley Life column in AG Weekly

Celebrate local farmers on National Ag Day

When I think about March, I think about tulips and daffodils, crocus and asparagus, spring break and sprucing up perennial flower beds. I don't think about agriculture, even though everywhere I look farmers are busy moving dirt and cleaning out ditches, preparing for the upcoming growing season. But I should because March 20, besides being the first day of spring, is also National Agriculture Day.

I could probably blame the romantic in me -- who enjoys living in the country without having to do all the work -- for my shortcomings. Out here on our mini-farm, we have enough land to raise a small crop or pasture livestock, but I'd rather look at the land than work it. I'd rather buy my chickens already butchered and cleaned instead of chasing them all over the yard with a hatchet the way my mother used to. In reality, I'm a country girl at heart with city-slicker ways.

It's a good thing not everyone is like me. The Agriculture Council of America, who has promoted National Ag Day since its inception in 1973, reports the following:

More than 22 million people work in the agriculture industry
Agriculture is America's No. 1 export, generating 20 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product
Today's farmer produces enough food to feed 129 people a day
Almost 90 percent of U.S. farms are run by individuals or family corporations
Today's average farm is 417 acres compared to 147 acres in 1900
42 percent of U.S. total land area is farmland
U.S. farmers account for 42.7 percent of the world's soybean production and 34.4 percent of the world's corn production
More than 15 percent of the U.S. population is employed in farm or farm-related jobs
Farmers and ranchers provide food and habitat for 75 percent of the nation's wildlife

My small garden keeps me in vegetables throughout the summer, but it's the farmers who keep my potato bin and freezer full. So this year, instead of just singing praises to spring, I'm also going to pay tribute to our hard-working farmers. They're the people who make this valley special. Without them, I, for one, would get mighty hungry.