The Farming Tradition

A couple of months ago, I was contacted to speak out my local township watch meeting.  Our township has a local business owner, resident, or expert give a presentation each month about something going on in our community.  The township decided to have me come to speak about my family farm.  I was not really looking forward to the presentation, but I knew it is an important opportunity to be in the community, and create a dialogue with my neighbors.  I am not necessarily afraid of public speaking, but I am always nervous that I won't be as prepared as I should be.

My grandparents are part of the township watch, and were very excited to have my speak to the group.  Grandpa used to be the master of the slideshow, always eager to show off the accomplishments he has made on the farm.  Now he has passed the task on to me, and while I have changed the show a little bit, I still like to use many of his old slides.

The farm just after Grandpa and Grandpa fixed it up in 1975.  

I think it is a little different now than it used to be when Grandpa did his presentations.  He always boasted about the new technology, the mechanization, and the expansion of the farm.  He is proud that our business was able to grow from one barn in his backyard, into one of the more successful farms in the state.  I am always a little bit apprehensive showing off our business acumen, since most people would rather believe that everything was still in the backyard.  I put more emphasis on community, and public works, and not quite so much on the hogs.  The audience has changed, from neighborhood farmers, to just neighbors.  They still have to put up with the big machinery, the funny smells, and occasional pig escapes, but they don't always see it as an economic or community benefit that our neighbors used to see. 

My presentation went fine, and I was able to meet some more faces in my community, answer a few questions, and even invite some people out for a farm tour.  Our door is always open to our neighbors, they just have to ask. People seemed pretty engaged, and were definitely excited about things we are doing to manage our environmental impact, as well as improve our animal care. We are proud of the farm, just as Grandpa and Grandma are, and we want to show people that we can be a big farm and a good neighbor.  

The most surprising thing of the whole evening,  was when the neighbor smack-dab in the middle of our farmland raised his hand and commented to the whole group, that he had never known a more caring family or business in the community, than our farm family.  He couldn't imagine having better neighbors, or a business that chose to do more for the people that supported it.  He was pleased with our animal care, and our manure management, as well as our scholarships, school trip funding, and Christmas hams.  He was glad to see that our family tradition was continuing on to the next generation, and  I think Grandpa and Grandma were most proud of that.