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Farming makes the world go round

Adriana Murillo-Williams

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our farmers and farm workers who are keeping the very complicated engine called the food chain going during this challenging period.

It is the food that you produce that guarantees that we have ability to put nutritious food on our plates, as well as the plates of our first responders and heroes during the most difficult times we have lived through, whether a pandemic, a hurricane, or war. Your efforts also provide the many other agricultural products like the natural fibers in our clothes that protect us from the elements, the barley and hops in the beer sitting in our refrigerator, and that cup of warm and rich milk that gives us comfort before we go to bed, just to mention a few.

In simple words, soils, and the crops we grow on them sustain human life as we know it. Ironically, agriculture and the work of those involved in the agricultural sector tends to be underestimated, and unfortunately for many, something rather unknown.

This issue is the same whether you are in a developed economy, or in a developing country. As an example, I used to work in a country where the number one staple food is rice, and 60 percent of the rice consumed by the population is locally grown. Soon after I started my job as an Agronomy Professor, one student asked me how rice was made. After asking the student a few questions, I realized that he was not asking about rice pollination, cooking, drying, cleaning, milling, packing or distribution, rather, he asked the question because he did not know that rice comes directly from plants, even though I was sure he could solve any complicated mathematical or chemical equation in seconds. This was not an isolated case.

One of my colleagues at the university had a stand during the annual university fair that became quite popular where adults and children could learn about where food comes from, which for many was a unique opportunity to actually see and touch rice, beans, and soybean plants. Fortunately, where we are here in Pennsylvania, we recognize that agriculture is all around us. We all have a family member or a friend who works in agriculture, and some of the 4-H programs, and the Ag-literacy Week are examples of ways children can learn about crop and animal production from a very young age.

During times of crisis, agriculture takes center stage, and expectations from farmers and retail stores remain high even when market prices are low, and the production, market and distribution chains of agricultural products have been disrupted.

However, it is during a crisis that we also need to recognize the opportunities. This is when we should take time to rethink how agricultural markets work and look for better and more efficient ways to connect farmers to consumers.

For those of us in extension, I strongly feel that it is our job to keep reminding members of our communities about the importance of agriculture in daily lives and remind them that agriculture is not an easy job.

When a very good friend of mine asked his father why he continued farming during times when the farm’s finances were in the red, he said that being a farmer was the most noble job anybody could have. Those words have resonated in my mind every day since then. We should thank farmers every day, because challenging times have been many, and for many in the community, too long to withstand.

There are members of our community already finding creative ways to help local produce growers, grain growers, and mills. If you are one of them, or if you know of any of those initiatives, please share them with me and I will share those with broader community. You can contact me via email (axm1119@psu.edu) or by phone (814-355-4897).

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Adriana Murillo-Williams is an Agronomy Educator with Penn State Extension.

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