From Illinois to Alabama, A Farmer’s Firm Conviction

When I applied to become a Field Mom last fall, I was excited to have the opportunity to visit several mid-west farms and learn about how they operate. I never imagined how much more I would get out of the experience. I continue to be impressed, over and over, by the farmers I’m meeting.

I was invited to be part of an agricultural panel discussion this weekend. The audience was a group of ag business leaders, mostly from the U.S., but a few from other countries, as well. Some were farmers, others may have been involved with an ag-related business. My role on the panel was to represent the consumer-mom. I learned a lot, it was all very interesting, and the audience asked a lot of good questions of this consumer.

I was thrilled to be there to learn, as well as represent the consumer, but that wasn’t even the most interesting part of the morning. There was a man in the audience who questioned me about how concerned he thought consumer-moms are, specifically the Field Moms, about country-of-origin labeling. I learned he is from Alabama, in the cattle industry, and also raises catfish. At the end of the program, he sat down with me and we had a very interesting conversation. I had some questions for him and he had some questions for me. I came to the conference knowing that most of the seafood in the U.S. is imported, and for me, it’s challenging to find US seafood at the super-market. He informed me that the seafood standards in other parts of the globe pale in comparison to the high standards and regulations of this country. He expressed to me that it’s a big deal and that he didn’t understand why more consumers don’t take more time to learn more about it. After talking with him, I have been pondering some of the things he said. The Field Mom program is not going to talk to us about seafood, so I now have another topic to learn more about.

I want to also share this with you. The first thing he said, after he sat down, he looked me directly in the eyes, and he told me that here in the U.S. we have the safest food supply in the world. He isn’t the first farmer to do that. The same words, with the same firmness of conviction, also came from Eldon Gould one-on-one at his hog farm. They want us consumers to know that, and not in a patronizing way, just honestly and one-to-one from the real person producing the food to real person buying the food.