Lead by example

I am always proud to tell people that I am a sixth generation agriculturist from rural America. I hope the trend is not away from being proud of our rural heritage. Have you ever been reluctant to tell someone that you are a farmer, a rancher or from rural America? Since the first of the year, I have encountered far too many people on my travels that tell me they are struggling with it. It reminds me of the time several years ago when I had a pig farmer in a restaurant order pork chops and inform me that he refrained from telling his server that he was involved in producing the product he just ordered for fear of what she might think.

I spoke in Lansing, Michigan in early January at the Michigan Sheep Breeders' Shepherds Weekend. After my presentation a lady approached me and started by saying she wished her 17-year-old son had heard me. She shared with me that she is the mother of five kids and they live on a diversified farm in central Michigan. Her emotions got the best of her when she told me her teenage son no longer wished to be seen with their family in public. He was ashamed that they were farmers. She and her daughters shared with me that the kids were ostracized, even in their own church. The common thought must be that because they live on a farm, they are rural, backward folks.

I shared this story several days later in the Wisconsin Dells at a Land O'Lakes Purina Feeds dairy meeting. In excess of 500 dairymen were in attendance and low and behold more parents approached me with similar stories about their kids. One week later, I shared all of those stories in Deadwood, S.D. at a WALCO meeting and encountered a similar issue from Gillette, Wyo. The local coop has been updating the store and local pressure forced them to change their name from Farm and Ranch to the Country Store. When and how did the term "farm" earn such a black eye? And that's not all...

Last weekend in Kearney at the Nebraska Association of Fair Managers, I continued to share my concern about our image problem and guess what I learned. The Chancellor of the University of Nebraska, Harvey Perlman, has been considering changing the name of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources to eliminate the word Agricultural. When I arrived home, I read a recent alumni newsletter and they have decided to leave the name alone for now but will reevaluate it again in the near future. I think that certainly is cause for all concerned parties to share their thoughts with Chancellor Perlman.

As I put print on paper for this column, it's easy to reflect on the life of my Loos Tales radio show. When I began five years ago, I would walk into radio stations and introduce myself as "Trent Loos, proud sixth generation United States farmer," I tried to convince them to air my show by explaining that Loos Tales told the story of production agriculture. After two years with that approach, I had only about 12 stations. I even had a lady in Washington, DC, tell me that they couldn't talk about agriculture on National Public Radio because it was "boring." Then I wised up a bit. Experience is a wonderful teacher. I changed the positioning of Loos Tales and now I am telling the story of "the people and places in rural America that make it what it is." Now they call me "a cowboy Charles Kuralt." Using my new and improved approach, I have over 100 stations that air the show because that angle makes it sound really cool.

There is only one way for us to help people realize that the American farmer is something other than a backward, hick from the sticks. We must each accept the responsibility at grocery stores, restaurants, ball games, churches, schools and everywhere we go to remind our 297 million fellow Americans that we don't produce some luxury widgets. We produce the essentials of life: food, clothing, fuel and life-saving pharmaceuticals. Most importantly, it is because of the intelligence of the American farmer that we can now feed 297 million Americans and utilize fewer resources than we have at any time in the history of the world. As a perfect example, we have the same number of beef cows that we had fifty years ago but they now produce twice as much human consumable protein.

The next time someone challenges your intelligence because of your rural heritage, ask him to walk a mile in your shoes for just one week. Keep in mind that the most important part of setting the record straight is setting an example for the youth around you. If you don't speak up today, you may find yourself trying to convince your own kids tomorrow.

Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.

Date:1/26/06