I want to shake The Hand That Feeds U.S. Here’s a great example of helping bring the story of today’s American farmer to the public.
America’s farmers are extending an olive branch to the same urban media that have often been critical of agriculture, and some powerful U.S. lawmakers asked the nation’s reporters in a letter today to give them a chance.
“It makes no sense that we’re being demonized by many of the nation’s top newspapers,” said Linda Raun, a rice grower from Texas who is participating in The Hand That Feeds U.S., a new farmer-led project to improve relations with big-city reporters.
“It’s not the newspapers’ fault,” she continued. “We haven’t done a good enough job telling them our story. We’ve been negligent in explaining that farmers and farm policy feeds and clothes every person in this country, employs 20 percent of the nation’s workforce and will be at the center of America’s economic recovery.”
Andy Quinn, a Minnesota corn and ethanol producer agrees. “We’re the best farmers in the world, but we’re far from being master communicators. For too long, we’ve let a handful of environmental extremists and coalitions bankrolled by big business define our industry in the news.”