T – As a whole, farmers are technology-friendly. It’s a quality farmers have to embrace and equally defend as they take on their shoulders the task of becoming more efficient, growing more food with fewer resources.
H – Hard-working farmers are just wrapping up a time of the year that’s both exhilarating and exhausting. They dig deep to find the drive and the energy to work the hardest in the final minutes of their season, because those are the most important minutes.
A – Farmers find themselves jacks of all trades, able to wear the many hats that their business demands: agronomist, veterinarian, business manager, bookkeeper, commodities trader, insurance executive, mechanic, soil scientist – not to mention brother, dad, husband and grandpa. Or sister, mother, wife and grandma.
N – Farming is a noble profession, even if might feel like consumers are thumbing their noses these days. We must remember that farmers have been entrusted with this very important task.
K – Behind every rugged, weather-worn man and woman of the land is a very kind heart. It holds the patience and the moral compass that it takes to navigate this business. This video shows an excellent example of a heart destined to be a farmer.
F – Faith is a base quality needed by farmers to endure the cycles that come with a life in agriculture.
U – It helps to be undaunted. There is so much that challenges farmers as they go about their daily work. Weather extremes. Financial risk. Physical danger. And a whole new generation of people who think they know agriculture so well that they should be calling the shots.
L – Loyal. To family and friends and the land and livestock. And community. And the mouths they feed. Farmers are loyal, to a fault.
And for all of these things that farmers are, we should be T-H-A-N-K-F-U-L. While you’re feeling thankful this week, take two minutes and watch this again, and dig into your gratitude, courtesy of Paul Harvey.
