Today is officially Thank a Farmer day in Missouri.

Missouri Director of Agriculture Dr. Jon Hagler (right) visited Forck Farms near Jefferson City to present the official proclamation to Kelly Forck, a diversified crop and livestock producer who is president of the Missouri Soybean Association.

“It’s an appropriate tribute to the farmers and ranchers across Missouri and across this country who put a reliable, safe food supply on our families’ tables at Thanksgiving,” Hagler said. “In America, we have the highest quality, most affordable food in the world because of the hard work of farm families across this nation.”

Dr. Hagler says his favorite statistic at the Department of Agriculture is that “four out of four people eat” which is why we should all be grateful on Thanksgiving and every other day of the year that we enjoy affordable and abundant food.

Kelly pointed out that farmers are consumers too and are thankful for other farmers who produce the food they eat. “As farmers we have a lot of things to be thankful for – we even have the consumers to be thankful for,” he added.

Check out some photos from the event here.

The Missouri Beef Industry Council and other state commodity groups were involved in the proclamation made this morning. Listen here to our weekly Missouri Beef Checkoff Chat that includes comments from Kelly and Dr. Hagler.