The Stereotypical Farmer

[Andy Overbay]

Good morning FFTF....

Have you ever been (or felt you have been) looked down upon because you were a farmer? Our image used to be one of the community's "white hat" but that gets a little dirtier every day. Savannah Gutherie, NBC News' White House Correspondent used to be a reporter for Court TV. Here is what I personally heard her blurt out during the coverage of an Idaho murder trial on June 17, 2004.....

"The prosecution made a real mistake by introducing DNA evidence in this case. These jurors are farmers. They couldn’t possibly understand such sophisticated scientific data!"

Consider this.....take out the word "farmers" and replace it with any group (race, religion, national origin, affiliation) that you please, and then think about the outrage that would have come Ms. Gutherie's way. She would have been lucky to make Public Lynching TV's "Hanging of the Week!"

Ever have someone question your intelligence because you farmed? Happened to me when a transplanted neighbor asked..."Oh! Are you educated?"

Hey...I did get a Ph. D. dissertation out of it!

[Tyler Hedge]

This comment by Ms. Guntherie angers me. Farming is no longer hitchen the horses to the plow and throwing some seeds out there. Some of the most saphisticated technologies in the world are used by farmers everyday. DNA, too sophisticated? What about genetically modified seeds? What about the breeding of show catlle? Yeah we couldn't possibly understand that. Ms. Guntherie couldn't use her GPS to find the Mariot, left alone use GPS to plant corn with no point rows!

Here's a few things that Ms. Guntherie could possibly understand because they are too sophisticated for her......the smell of fresh turned dirt, the smell of dew on a field of fresh cut alalfa, waking up in the morning and your back hurts, leg hurts, and your whole body aches, and you don'tgo to the spa for a message; you go to work and you do it with a smile on your face. Your smiling because your doing what you love and you have been blessed by God everyday. She wouldn't understand.......

[Grant Rix]

I think of it more as a compliment when a non farmer says implicates that they can farm as good or better than farmer. It just means that we can do our job soo well that it looks easy to others.

[Andy Overbay]

You know...name changes really don't work do they? We have a Career and Technical Center in my home county (as many of y'all do). My degree is in Career and Technical Ed....CTE evolved from Vocational and Technical Ed, which evolved from Vocational Ed; which was probably a shortened version of Vo-Ag. If you asked folks on the street where the CTE Center was, they'd probably not be able to tell you. Ask them where the "Trade School is?" and they'd say "Oh yeah! Why didn't you say so!"

I am honored to be called a farmer. I spoke to a young man (Young as in 44...he's younger than me) and he was still upset because he couldn't influence FFA to NOT drop the word Farmers from their name. We need to be mindful that the Savannah Gutheries of the world (See original posting) don't have it right and they have a bully pulpit to spread venom about our industry. We cannot ignore this.

[Josh Lancaster]

I don't care how much money they earn, who thinks they are better than me, who wants to downgrade our ability, or who wants to just call me a farmer. I want to be called a farmer because that is what I am. I manage a 9,000 acre operation and work closely with large companies such as John Deere, Pioneer, and Monsanto for the future development of thier products so if they just want to call me a farmer than I am proud to be just a farmer. I will continue to provide jobs for my community, pay my taxes, social security, unemployment and every other fee that comes with my own business and do all of this without a large title becuase I can and am successful at it. I don't the flare of something I'm not. As just a farmer I love the ability to tend the land and grow the crops to feed the world and I have complete self satisfaction without watching the news or seeing any information about farming outside of a farming community, organization, or classroom. So If we are just farmers be proud of that because I know I am providing for other people and that is what it is all about.

[Andy Overbay]

Good stuff folks! Question.....what are the mechanics to getting the message out about the "up side" of being a farmer? Many young people have a twisted view of our industry....we talk about sustainable farming but the reality is that farming isn't sustainable without a sustainable supply of farmers.

[Adam]

My teacher at college called us Production Agriculturalists...... and yes who is "richer" the man who goes to work from 9-4 and hates his job, but makes all the money he could ever need. Or the farmer, who loves his job, doesn't really even call it a job, and just hopes to break even every year. To me its the farmer. Call me stupid, but a man's gotta do what is right in his mind.

[Andrew Wagner]

This discussion brings up some very interesting topics. I am a 33 year old that spent 6 years of my life in college getting my master's degree. I then spent another 7 years working my way up the corporate ladder (in healthcare). I was raised on a small farm in Indiana but it was never an option to make a living from that occupation. Three years ago I became very disenchanted with the corporate life and decided to make a change. I was presented with a great opportunity to begin working for/with my father in-law on a large scale row crop operation. I had always said that if I could make a living farming, then that is what I wanted. Through my years in healthcare, I worked very closely with hospital CEO's, clinical directors, HR personnel, etc. I will say that all of those people could learn a heck of a lot in regards to business and research from all of the "farmers/agribusinessmen" with whom I have had the pleasure to interact.

[Andy Overbay]

That is certainly true Jeremy. Which brings up another point about stereotypes. The term is "metastereotypes"....and a meta(s) is the stereotype you think others have about you. If you think others look down on you, you behave differently. One more reason to look inward at being ambassadors agriculture...because we do control our image to a large extent.

[jeremy gerow]

i noticed no body is looking at the other side of this sometimes being thought of as the dumb farmer can work to your advantage people are prone to under estimate you and not feel that you are a threat for that realestate machinary, etc deal people think you dont understand sometimes you can learn alot more listening to the crowd that let its guard down casue your a "dumb farmer"

[Don Aberle]

Very interesting, Dave! I like the way you think!