Soybean Planting Broadcast

The annual Soybean Planting Broadcast will be this afternoon from 1:00 to 3:30 pm. I will be broadcasting from the Marvin Spindler Family Farm southwest of Owatonna. Special thank you to the Spindler's for hosting the broadcast and CashWise Foods in Owatonna for catering the lunch with real food! They always bring beef, chicken or pork along with mashed potatoes and gravy! That will taste good after eating a lot cheese sandwiches when I was out to the farm this spring!

Many people do not realize how many business farmers depend on to plant a crop. Equipment dealers, agronomists, retailers that provide all the herbicides and fertilizer, financial advisors, crop insurance agents, car and truck dealers, computer experts that develop monitoring and guidance systems, the list goes on and on. Then there are the processors that take the raw commodities and turn it into food items that consumers buy in the grocery store. In addition there is all the research and development, transportation and retailers.

Yes, about 20 percent of Minnesota's economic activity and 20 percent of all jobs are agriculture and food related. It all begins with about 1 or 2 percent of the population in the United States, farmers that plant the seed!