Today is National Farmers Day. Just in time to celebrate our American farmers, country star Blake Shelton teaches Late Night Host Jimmy Fallon to milk a cow. I don’t know about you, but I definitely have more appreciation for farmers after watching this!
As Twitter blows up today in honor of our growers, several quotes stand out. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happiness.”
And in the words of George Washington, “Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, most and most noble employment of man.”
Photo Credit: Twitter
With perfect timing, USDA issued the latest statistics on the corn harvest this morning and once again, American corn farmers are set to post another record with corn production estimated to be 15.1 billion bushels for the 2016/2017 harvest. This feat is more than double the production only 25 years ago. For example, in 1991, corn production was 7.48 billion bushels. Also this year the USDA is forecasting another record yield of 173.4 bushels per acre, surpassing the 171 bushels per acre recorded in 2014.
The ethanol industry has played a significant role in providing an outlet for corn. Lat year, the the U.S. ethanol industry used 5.25 billion bushels of corn last year valued at $19 billion. This was used to produce nearly 15 billion gallons of ethanol and 40 million metric tons of dried distillers grains, or DDGS, an animal feed. In all, the ethanol coupled with DDGs production was valued at more than $31 billion.
Today, Bob Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO s,ent out a great thank you to America’s farmers on behalf of the ethanol industry. “Ethanol continues to be the most important value-added market for America’s farmers, helping to drive investment in rural America while allowing Congress to reduce federal farm program costs. At the same time, ethanol is helping to clean the air, address global climate change, enhance U.S. energy security and lower consumer gasoline costs. Given all that farmers do to help feed and fuel the world, every day should be National Farmer’s Day.“