Where Does Your Food Come From?

We tend to take it for granted. Once a week or more, we head to the grocery store. Pushing our carts down the aisles, we load it full of fresh food: tomatoes, apples, carrots, steaks, and chicken breasts. We top it off with milk, bread, and cheese.

Do you ever stop to think about where all of that food comes from? I never gave it a thought until I heard about country superstar Luke Bryan and his 2017 Annual Farm Tour. The son of a peanut farmer, he wanted to raise awareness about the folks in our country who often go uncredited: the farmers who work hard every day to provide us with food that’s nutritious, affordable, and safe to eat.

On each and every Farm Tour, Bryan takes his live concerts to working farms and agricultural communities throughout the country. This means bringing big music to small farming towns that don’t have large musical venues to host large concerts. It also means bringing awareness of how important farmers are to our everyday lives.

Bryan’s tour also provides a college scholarship for one student at each of his stops. This year, Bryan has partnered with Bayer U.S. to feed hungry families through Feeding America. Every time someone shares the #HeresToTheFarmer hashtag on social media, Bayer will donate one meal to a family who needs it most, with the goal of donating one million meals..

Who Are America’s Farmers?

While we often think of our food as coming from big corporate farming entities, the numbers reveal a completely different picture. In fact, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, 97% of U.S. farms are operated by families. More than 20% of farmers in the U.S. are beginning farmers who have been operating their farms for less than 10 years. Millennials play a big part in that, with over a quarter of a million people in this up-and-coming generation working in agriculture.

Farms Put Food on Our Tables…

How much food do U.S. farms produce? To get an idea, consider that a single farm produces enough food to feed 165 people for one year. They don’t just feed people in our country, either. In 2016 alone, U.S. farms exported a whopping $135.5 billion worth of agricultural products to all corners of the globe. Among our top products are corn, cattle, and dairy.

…And Put Our Country to Work

In addition to putting food on our tables, I discovered that farms put people to work. Farm and agricultural employment provides millions of jobs each year. Add to this all of the food-related jobs that help bring those products to our tables – whether it’s a home-cooked meal purchased at a grocery store or a meal served in a restaurant – and agriculture becomes a powerful driving force behind the U.S. economy.

A Salute to the Farmers
After seeing these numbers, every trip to the grocery store has been a new experience for me. Now when I pick up that ear of corn or package of Brussels sprouts, I think about the family responsible for growing it and the hands that worked hard to harvest it. From growing our food to creating jobs, farmers are the lifeblood of our country. I’ll never take my food for granted again. Here’s to the farmers!