5 Ways to be an Advocate for Ag

Farming is not a job, it’s a way of life. If you farm, you understand this saying is completely true. From melting cattle waters in 20 below zero or loading square bales in the hot summer sun, farmers and ranchers today understand that agriculture is a day to day is a day battle with mother nature, crop prices, and machinery break-downs. It seems that it’s more and more often we have another fight from activist groups and uneducated consumers. With this struggle growing day to day it is important to ready and prepared, here are the top 5 ways to be ready to advocate for agriculture.

1.     We are all in this together. Don’t single out any one part of the agriculture industry because you want to or can. We need to work together to combat the negative image that is painted of farmers and rancher, and we cannot do that if we are fighting ourselves.

2.     Dress professional, and be personal when you meet someone the first thing that they see is the way your dressed. Even though it seems small but wearing a shirt with sleeves can make you look like you know what you’re talking about and give you more credibility in the public eye. Don’t be afraid to give farm tours or sow them pictures of your operation, it tends to put a face with the name and make farmers people not just someone in bib-overalls.

3.     Be ready. No one wants to think that when you go to the grocery store that you will have someone ask you questions about their food and how it was produced. But in many cases the places that we don’t expect to talk about these thing that we are asked, from the State Fair to your local grocery store you need to always be ready with the information that the public wants to know.

4.     Know the science not just the facts. This seems like a strange thing to say but rather it is GMOs, water quality, or living conditions of animals everyone has their own “facts” and everyone thinks that theirs are right. But nobody can argue with science backed by where it came from. This make you look like you did your homework and gives you credibility.

5.     Be nice. I don’t think I need to go in depth on this last one. At the end of the day if you can be nice and treat others the way you would like to be treated it goes along way.

If we follow these 5 basic rules, we as agriculturalists can advocate for our way of life.

Chase (CD) Brinegar

Southeast State Vice President