This past weekend my husband and I attended the Young Farmers and Ranchers leadership conference hosted by Farm Bureau. This was my first year to attend, and Morgan's fifth time. I was eager and nervous to attend. I am still adjusting to being a farm wife. I wasn't raised on a farm, my uncles and grandfather did farm but I paid little attention. I feel like I have learned a lot from Morgamn but understand that I have barely scratched the surface.
The purpose of this conference isn't really to teach new farming practices. It's a leadership conference. It encourages all of us to stand up for our way of life, to educate people who don't understand what we do. There are members of society that attack agriculture. When they do this I have begun to understand that they aren't attacking just those who aren't us. We are subject to their accusations and stereotypes. It was encouraging to see all of us together working for the good of what is not just our occupation, but our lives, our families, our communities.
For a litte background to help explain why this confernce was especially rewarding for me I have to tell you that, we have recently moved to a small town of 300 or less in north central kansas. My family is from eastern kansas. I have defended my decision many times to family, friends, and strangers on the street. They see that I have essentially put my life on hold, stepped back into the 1950's. Those people that I defend my home to do not see what I see. They see a small town, in which half of the homes are inhabitable. They see that our closet major super store is around 45 mins from our home. They see that our mall, also 45 mins away, only has a handful of stores, that the closest grocery store is almost 20 mins. They see a desolate highway that has a hole in the wall town just beside it. They see pot holes and cracked sidewalks, closed store fronts and lonely streets. I don't see any of that when I look at our town. Now I will admit I was not impressed the first time that I saw our small town. But I will never look at a small community the same again.
Our town is not just what outsiders see. They don't see that the local gas station is also the coffee shop, the last minute ingredient shop, the tire shop, the mechanic, the hardware store. They dont' see that if you go up town to the post office that more than likely your going to see someone you know, or meet someone new. They don't see that when you go to the bank that the ladies that work there take the baby for you so that you can get your business taken care of. They don't see when the community comes together for a holiday celebration. They don't see the sense of family, community, acceptance, saftey and peace that this town provides. Meeting the young people at this conference was like meeting old friends. They know exactly how we feel. They come from the forgotten towns, the rural areas that our government leaders have written off as useless.
These young families, individuals, business owners, employees of ag powered businesses are our support system. They are a part of our community as well. Statistics say that farmers/ranchers make up only 2% of our population. We just don't fit in with the rest of society. The modern human does not understand us. I think that in a way we scare the other 98%. Mostly because they just do not understand what truely is happening on the farm, or on the ranch.
The Kansas Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers conference gives us in ag a chance to unite and put our heads together on how to change the ag stereotype. I am excited to and proud to now represent my husbands passion of farming/ranching. I am excited and pround to be a part of what he does, to help him grow things, to nurture and care for our animals and crops so that we can not only feed our own family but to help feed our neighbors, friends and the 98% that takes care of other things for us.
I have new passion to really accurately represent our farm, our life, and our passion for agriculture.
I want to share the link for the conference
http://www.kfb.org/getinvolved/yfr/index.html for those in ag that haven't heard or for those who just want to learn more.
