Serious Thoughts from a Funny Guy

Cindy Zimmerman

spgc-damianDamian Mason is a seriously funny guy.

Chuck interviewed him twice last year – at the NAMA conference and then again at the O.H. Kruse event – but the first time I have seen him was over the weekend at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference, and I suspect it won’t be the last. He is making a name for himself as “Agriculture’s Professional Funny Man” and has a growing client list of agricultural companies and organizations. If you haven’t seen him yet, you probably will soon and you won’t be disappointed.

“I’m a farm boy and a farm owner, I have an agricultural economics degree, raised on a dairy farm,” Damian said after his SPGC luncheon keynote sponsored by BASF. “I make people laugh and I talk about industry issues.”

Weaving his thoughts about serious agricultural issues within his comedy, Damian hammered home the importance of communicating with the fragment of our population that knows nothing about food production. He suggests that agriculture learn from the National Rifle Association and be more aggressive in defending our industry. “They are emotional, they are patriotic and they also talk about self-interest,” said Damian.

He also contends that using the argument for cheap food is ineffective. “It’s not really a selling point to at least the upper half (of the population),” Damian said. “If they cared about cheap food why would they spend $12 billion dollars on plastic bottles of water … food is an emotional decision in the United States, not a sustenance and physical decision.”

Listen to more serious thoughts from this funny guy in my interview here – and watch one of his YouTube clips below to see one of the bits he did talking about farmers.
Interview with Damian Mason, Agriculture’s Professional Funny Man

You can also learn more about Damian, find out how to book him at an event, and buy some of his cool stuff like “Agriculture – Because Starvation Sucks” t-shirts – at DamianMason.com.

2014 SPGC photo album

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Peanuts, SPGC, Video