Why Farm Tours Matter.

When I heard that some friends of my family from Maryland, Carol and Scotty, were road-tripping to Alaska and that they were planning to come through North Dakota on their trek, I invited them to stop by.  We LOVE visitors!  We also LOVE farming and are always excited to share our passion for agriculture with others. 

Love this pic Carol took! Boy do I look tired and HUGE though, lol! Many sleepless nights led up to this day and many followed, but what a grand visit we had :)

I happened to be in the early stages of labor with our new son, who arrived the next morning, when Carol and Scotty visited in June, so the three of us hung out in the house in the air conditioning.  We talked about everything from farm policy and how the explosion of new regulations from the EPA is affecting our ability to grow food, to lessons my children are learning growing up on the farm.

I showed them our farm office and how Jeremy uses precision agriculture methods to help keep our land healthy and our farm efficient and profitable. Then I deferred the farm shop/ field tour to Jeremy so I could wrap up a few baby-prep projects.  From what I hear he made it pretty quick, because we were, after all, getting ready to have a new baby VERY soon.

Here Jeremy explains to Carol and Scotty about the flood of 2009. What you see in the background is what is left of a road/bridge that leads to some of our farmland.  They have yet to be repaired.

 

When our guests returned to their home after their trip, I got this message on my Facebook page:

"The wheat Jeremy gave us travelled all the way to Alaska to South Carolina and is now proudly displayed in our entertainment center for all to see and to also remind us of our visit and how important all our farmers are to our everyday lives! Bless you all - we think of you often and look forward to another visit!"

I know that farmers and ranchers everywhere are so incredibly busy, but it is well worth it to make time for a farm tour, even a quick one.  You will help others to have a better understanding of where their food comes from and they may even become life-long advocates for agriculture!

Agvocacy 2.0 Training

Today and tomorrow I'm in Chicago to attend the first "Agvocacy 2.0 Training". This training has resulted from a group called the AgChat Foundation. What is that, you ask? Check out:

http://agchat.org/about

I'm grossly oversimplifying many, many hours that AgChat Foundation directors did behind the scenes, but basically, through an application process, 50 people from across the United States were selected to attend a two-day training seminar in Chicago on utilizing social media to promote an understanding of agriculture

http://agchat.org/2010/06/agvocacy-2-0-training.html

I'm extremely honored to be a part of the group of agricultural advocates, or"agvocates", that the AgChat Foundation selected and I am looking forward to an information-packed two days and the opportunity to network in person with so many people I've been "facebooking" and "tweeting" these past few months!

Another fun fact is that there are two other North Dakotans in attendance! Paul Anderson of Coleharbor, ND and Val Wagner of Monango, ND. I'm excited for the three of us to return to ND and start spreading the word about what we have learned here in Chicago!

Also, a special THANK YOU to the North Dakota Corn Growers Association (http://www.ndcorn.org/) for their $250 sponsorship, which has helped to pay for a portion of the registration fee for this event.