Thank A Farmer with Dairy Carrie | Over A Beer 031

Thank a Farmer. We’ve heard it over the years and I’ve even joined in the movement myself over the past decade by writing a few articles asking for others to thank us – farmers, ranchers and the agriculture community for the food, fiber and fuel that is used every day. But is that really what we should be asking?

This week on the podcast, Carrie Mess (a.k.a. Dairy Carrie) and I sit down for another Over A Beer episode to discuss. You can find all episode show notes here.

Hey, I’m guilty of it. If you search my blog, you’ll find an article as far back as 2009 asking the world to Thank A Farmer “for all of the hard work a small portion of Americans put forth to feed a growing world population.” But as we’ve matured in our advocacy efforts, I’d like to think we can realize there is a much more effective way of communicating that message.

Carrie and I sit down over a beer to discuss how this campaign had every great intention when it began. There are absolutely appropriate times to ask people to Thank a Farmer. A really good example of this is a campaign like Culvers’ Thank You Farmers.

However, this has changed over the years with a bit of a self-seeking tone. Farmers aren’t the only people who work hard. People don’t want to be told they need to be educated.

Carrie and I offer our solutions to raising awareness of those who work in agriculture. This has included the evolution of our own brands to correct course and connect with other people as a person rather than trying to be advocates armed with facts, figures and science to tell people they should support agriculture. We share how we’ve done this and how other advocates can as well.

We share a few examples of people who are connecting are examples of doing this. This includes Cara Harbstreet, a registered dietitian from Kansas City (Instagram and Twitter).

Let us know what you think about Thank A Farmer by chiming in on Twitter.

Thanks to our sponsors (if we had sponsors) – Spotted Cow Beer from New Glarus Brewing for the hydration and to Crawfish Junction for the location for the discussion. 

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