Events across the country will help celebrate American agriculture on Tuesday, March 24. National Ag Day events will bring a spotlight to farmers and their contributions to national security, according to Marty Wolske, Successful Farming Publisher and Chair of National Ag Day.
“You could ask the generations, just two generations ago that were in Europe during World War Two, they understand what it’s like to be a hungry society. We do not have that. We’re very, very fortunate in this country, and that’s why we continue to celebrate what farmers are doing to allow us to have the freedom to be able to do anything we want, because we do not have to worry about the security of where our next meal is coming from.”
Wolske says National Ag Day is a great way to tell the story of agriculture.
“There are that many more people that consume the products that farmers create that don’t really have a good sense for how those products were created, and so that’s what’s really important, is to have generations of consumers, and food consumers particularly, understand why we employ the practices that we do, why, why we raise animals the way that we do, and the care that we put into those animals, and that the health products that we’re using are to create a healthier, happier life for the for the animal, and what that means to the quality of the food.”
Grade school students will be among those introduced to farming and where their food comes from.
“They’re going to be taking classroom field trips to local farms, where the students will actually get to experience firsthand how food is produced, and that’s really important. As we get more and more further removed from our food and how our food is grown and produced. It’s an outstanding opportunity to be able to educate young people just to what goes into creating the food, the things that we go to the grocery store, and it’s just there.”
Wolske says a ceremony and reception will be held in Washington, DC led by Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins, and the public is invited.