National Ag Week is a week when we say thank you to the farmers and ranchers who provide a stable food supply for us locally and for citizens around the world. It’s Dairy farmers like Krista Dolan, Kaitlyn Riley, Mike Turner and Randy Thull that milk cows everyday so we have fresh milk to drink.
Vegetable growers like Jack Wohifeil and Nathan Wolosek that grow peas, snap beans and sweet corn for companies like Del Monte Foods to process.
But agriculture is so much more, it’s also the agri-business jobs that make production agriculture a success. Like Josh Rimmert who ensures the potatoes at Alsum Produce are of the highest quality for the consumer to take home and make baked potatoes that pair nicely with a ribeye from Phil Ullmer’s beef farm.
Amy Badtke takes diesel fuel orders and Brett Hoonio delivers that fuel order so that we can operate our tractors and harvesters to feed our livestock and grow our crops. Patti Roden merges alfalfa wind rows together so Shane Goplin can come along and chop that hay which our dairy cattle will eat and produce milk on Krista’s, Kaitlyn’s, Mike’s and Randy’s farms.
My job at Del Monte is to maintain the Oxbo Bean Harvester to harvest Jack’s green bean crop.
For high school agriculture instructors like Whitney Barnes and Jillian Beaty educating the next generation of agriculturists and consumers is a daily task. There is also assistance from The Farm Babe, Pam Jahnke, and Mike Austin on why agriculture is so important to us all.
It’s true, there are actually folks who believe brown cows give chocolate milk. That’s where our friends at Ag in the Classroom come into play as they help educate school students about food and farming in a fun way.
So, I ask you take the time and say thanks to all the people who work in agriculture, because without them we would not be able to feed the world’s growing population. But most of all, the farmers and rancher give of themselves to make sure that the rest of us have safe, abundant supply of wholesome food on our tables.
I gave you a glimpse into some of the special connections I have through my Farm Bureau family. These people are my friends who are also involved in agriculture and share a common goal of feeding the rest or the world. This blog post is a special way to celebrate National Ag Day as I pay tribute to all those in my Farm Bureau family as well as all the other farmers and ranchers across the nation.
Stan Kaczmarek
Stan Kaczmarek is the Brown County Farm Bureau President. Stan farms in Green Bay and works off the farm for an area vegetable processor.
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