Most people do
not know where their food comes from. In fact, farming may be the hardest, most under-appreciated job there
is. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "Farming looks mighty easy, when your plow
is a pencil and you are a thousand miles from a corn field."
Farming is
not easy. Living on a farm and in a farming community, I see farmers working from
daylight to dusk and still struggling to make ends meet. However, I would I not
trade life on a farm for anything. Yes, the hours are long and the work is
hard, but when fall comes around it is always worth it.
Personally, fall is my favorite time of year. Not only because of watching college football on Saturdays, but because it is harvest time. Time to reap what we have sown all year long. Time to find a new little miracle in the pasture every morning and to see trailers leaving the grain fields every afternoon.
Many consumers look at the prices of groceries and think the farmer must be getting rich. President John F. Kennedy said, "The farmer is the only man in the economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale and pays the freight both ways."
Farmers are not getting rich, but most farmers are not in it for the money. They farm because they love it. I know this is true for me at least. Farming is not only a career, it is a way of life. Early mornings checking cows and late nights picking corn are things you come to love.
So, next time
you go to the grocery store and see the prices rising, remember the farmers' prices are rising, too. "Got food? Thank a farmer." That food did not
just magically grow and make it on to your plate. Somewhere, someone put their
blood, sweat and tears into that crop.
Callie Akins is a senior homeschool student from Nashville, Ga. She is a past Georgia Junior Cattlemen's Association Convention coordinator and serves now as the GJCA Chairwoman.
