I’d like to make a confession.  I grew up on a farm near Chesterland, Ohio, and although I had some good times there, I didn’t leave it happily.  Instead, as a rebellious teenager I left in anger having disagreed for the last time with my step-Dad, Everett Holt, who happened to be the farm manager.  I remember telling him once that I would never grow up to be a stupid farmer.  Looking back now I know how “stupid” that statement was and how much it must have hurt him.  Now I wish two things:  1) that I could apologize to him, and 2) that I could have given such a great experience of growing up on a farm to my own kids.  Neither wish can I ever obtain – that ship has sailed.  

Last Fall while surfing the TV channels on an early Saturday morning I came across a show called the U.S. Farm Report produced by Farm Journal.  I listened for a while and thought it was pretty good.  I went on to  watch it a couple more times and was hooked.  Now I get up every Saturday morning to catch its hour long show that starts at 6:00 AM.  A young woman by the name of Tyne Morgan anchors the show and I am astounded how knowledgeable she is about the agriculture industry.  The show has interesting segments including commentary about issues on the minds of the farming community,rebuilds of antique tractors, new farming inventions and herbicides, stock market information such as crop futures, national weather and its effects on farming, federal legislation that may effect the farming industry, and other related farming aspects.  Sounds like it would be boring, but it isn’t.  In fact I find it refreshingly honest and down to earth.  Unlike news reports on all the other TV outlets, the Farm Report does NOT report on murders, gang activities, the tightness of Kardashian clothing, the latest remarks of Elon Musk, nor do they repeat the same political shinanigans every broadcast over and over again.  Instead, it’s very educational.  Much of the discussions they have on the Farm Report in fact are over my head.   And actually it makes me think of my step-Dad and the fact that I didn’t give him enough credit for what he had to know to be a successful farmer.   The other thing I think is that the people associated with the Farm Report are in their own little world, and thank goodness for that, i.e., there’s at least one segment of the U.S. population that is not all twisted up in the politics, glamour, gore, and silliness of the endeavors of most of the people living in the big cities.  The people engaged in the Farm Report are truly down-to-earth and fully aware of the importance of their efforts in providing an essential product for humanity to survive – food.   I’m not exaggerating.  The essential elements for human survival are food, water, air and shelter;  things like diamonds, gold, fancy clothes, or political power don’t.  With the increasing world population, the depletion of farm lands caused by development and warfare, and the impact of climate change on food from the earth’s oceans, the importance of the remaining farming endeavors is extremely important.  In fact, if it wasn’t for the improved farming methods along with the biochemical improvements in crop production achieved over the past few decades, we would be in serious trouble right now.  So yeah, my teenage thoughts about farming were naïve and  way off the mark.  To humankind, farming has and will always be one of the most important jobs in the world.