Arkansas pride
Agriculture accounts for 25 percent of Arkansas' economy

By: Rich Hillman, Chairman
Arkansas Foundation for Agriculture

   The people of Arkansas are very astute.
   Consumers in Arkansas, and also all over the United States, are the most studied in the world. Today, the market place for most items is tremendously competitive. Agricultural products are no exception.
   Arkansas can boast about and be proud of many of our industries. We can take pride in products such as world-class fishing boats and the B-B guns we all had growing up which are produced here. We can also hold our heads up high when referring to Wal-Mart and J.B. Hunt Trucking, along with the other financial giants located in Arkansas.
   I could go on and on about the tremendous industries that we have. Make no mistake about it, we should be very proud of all of the successful businesses we have. But one industry may have been overlooked in the state: agriculture.
   Agriculture accounts for almost 25 percent of Arkansas' economy. You might ask yourself how in the world could such a large part of the state's economy go relatively unnoticed. The answer is that agriculture is segmented into many individual commodities, and then separated again into the many individual farms that make up this essential part of the economy.
   Because of its complexity and its many divisions, sometimes agriculture doesn't get the notoriety that other industries do. Also, it needs to be pointed out that most of our agricultural goods are raw products. That means they are used as ingredients in other, more publicized finished goods. These can include the cotton used in your kid's blue jeans, the lumber used to build your house, the grains used to feed the beef or the chicken that in turn is the sandwich you eat at your favorite fast-food restaurant.
   I think you get the message.
   I could continue to list the agricultural commodities produced in Arkansas, and a lot of people would be surprised at the enormous amount and diversity of these products. But for the sake of time, these examples will have to do.
   It seems that for the past several years, agriculture has become a target for many and appreciated by few. Farm Families across the nation have been criticized about the way they're feeding and clothing America. We have been portrayed to the general public as less-than kind to the environment, oblivious to wildlife-and in the past few months, painted to be wasting the taxpayers' money.
   The fact is, agriculture has been presumed to be guilty by reason of silence. When agriculture does address the slanted preconceived opinions that are fed to the American public, it will never make the front page. When sound science is used and financial questions are put in the correct context, they don't usually make good shock-the-reader articles or made-for-television detective consumer shows.
   No, these rebuttals are often never read or heard-and, for the most part, this is our fault as farmers. You see most farm families are too busy trying to produce the commodities that keep the nation well fed and clothed. We don't necessarily take the time or the effort to tell the nation what we are doing.
    For instance, if farm families took the time to list all their efforts toward conserving our natural resources, or who it is that incurs the costs and "willingly" takes full responsibility to be stewards of the land, most people would be surprised.
   They'd find out it is not necessarily the so-called "environmentalists." It is the farm families, who are out there in the fields, in the timber or riding the pastures of Arkansas every single day-taking care of the environment better than any absentee critic could even think about doing.
   If you really stop and think about it, the land, the water and our natural resources all are the tools of our trade. If we don't take care of them, we put ourselves out of business.
   So when common sense is interjected into the weak arguments that some of the fringe groups preach, it reveals that farm families are going to take care of the land even when it is not the "in thing" to do.
   Food safety is also paramount to today's consumer. This is and will be one of the most important aspects of the production practices of the Arkansas farmer. Simply and concisely, the products that we grow, we feed to our children and eat them ourselves. We consume the same products that everyone else does. The American consumer can rest assured that if it is raised in the U.S., their food is the safest in the world.
   In the last few months, farm subsidies have hit the headlines. Again, outside influence groups have tried to convince the American public that the government has been throwing money into farmers' bank accounts. In most cases, those articles said that only the "family farms" need the money. Some even went farther, stating that anything over 100 acres was not a "family farm." This could be debated all day, but one thing needs to be noted: if the U.S. depended on this definition of a farm for its food, many people would be hungry, or buying totally imported groceries.
   Unfortunately, the American farmer doesn't have the luxury of the free trade that many other businesses have in the U.S. The federal government says what countries we can or can't trade with. Couple this with the fact that other countries subsidize their farmers far more than we do, and we end up with a very unlevel playing field for American agriculture.
   Our subsidy programs insure that the American consumer doesn't have to pay $15 for a fast food hamburger. These programs make sure that the American housewife doesn't have to pay $10 for a gallon of milk. Furthermore, the farm subsidy programs ensure that the gallon of milk just mentioned above is the very safest for our most prized commodity that we raise in America, our children.
   With all of this said, I don't think you will find a farm family in the state of Arkansas that is not proud to be in agriculture. Sure, times are certainly tough right now on the farm. The uncertainty of new farm legislation and the depressed prices of our commodities have everyone in the state concerned.
   But there is a certain unspoken pride that rests in every farmer's heart that we are the ones who feed and clothe the world.
   So the next time you go to the grocery store, the lumberyard or your favorite clothes store, remember that the farm families of Arkansas are behind them. This is why many of the state's agricultural groups and organizations got together to create the Arkansas Foundation for Agriculture.
   We have come to realize that no one else is going to accept the challenge of educating the public about the many contributions that agriculture makes to the state. With fewer and fewer Arkansans having any connection to agriculture, it is increasingly important that farm families do a better job of telling consumers who we are, and what our industry is about.
   Farm families are proud of what we do. And just as all Arkansans should be proud of the success of the Wal-Marts and J.B. Hunts, we want you to be proud of the Farm Families of Arkansas.

Rich Hillman is a family farmer from Carlisle Arkansas.