Celebrate Agriculture’s Greatness on National Ag Day

National Ag Day began in 1973 and was founded by the Agriculture Council of America. However, the first National Ag Day was not celebrated until 1979. The goal was to educate those not involved in agriculture about how our food and fiber are produced in our modern society. Plus to let consumers know how agriculture provides us with the safest most affordable food supply in the world! In addition many do not realize all the careers in agriculture and what it means to our economy.

According to the Agriculture Council of America in 2019 there were 22.2 million full and part time jobs that were available in the agriculture and food sector. Who is the father of American Agriculture? I suspect you have heard of Norman Borlaug who was an American scientist at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Borlaug developed a semi-dwarf wheat variety that was a high protein and yielding variety that was credited with saving millions of lives.

When I was in college at the University of Minnesota Dr. Borlaug was a "guest lecturer" at one of my agronomy classes. Our professor introduced him as "the biggest scientific name you will ever meet in person."  We were even able to talk with Dr. Borlaug for a few minutes after class! Yes, I actually met the "father of the green revolution" that won a Nobel Prize for his work in agriculture! So, we can be thankful for everyone involved in our incredible agriculture system in the United States.