Farming – Hypothetically, Literally, and Spiritually

I got back to Springfield this evening after a week at home in central Missouri for Spring Break. The day I drove home, I realized that practically overnight (which could mean anything from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks for this tunnel-visioned college kid) everything had turned green. I mean, our neighbor mowed our small lawn twice in the span of a little over a week.

It’s officially spring, which means that my house is regularly haunted by a presence who sleeps in a bed in our house, but rarely if ever darkens our doorstep in daylight hours. He lives on Mountain Dew and honey buns, and spends most of his days taking care of baby plants. My dad spent this past week (until it started raining incessantly) driving his new toy – a huge sprayer. It looks like a giant bug-slash-fourwheeler that runs across fields (wheat this week) using its long arms to spritz a mixture of water and chemicals to protect the plants from bugs, fungus, weeds, etc. Only one thing can be applied at a time, so these plants will get sprayed several more times this season to keep them healthy.

In other news this past week, my small Baptist church at home led a revival with a guest preacher. I really enjoyed the services, and Icouldn’t resist sharing one of the stories Brother David told one evening when he shared with us his passion for missions.

Prayer is the backbone of missions. If you’re not called to go far away, and you’re not called to go close to home right now, you’re called to pray. Because here’s the thing – farmers don’t just drive their combines into a random field and hope there will be something to harvest there. They know better. They know that they have to cultivate the ground, plant the seeds, water them, keep the weeds and bugs out, and check on them regularly to make sure they mature – they also have to make sure their tractor, sprayer, and combine are in good working order.

God tells us that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Yet He called all of us in the great commission to go therefore and make disciples. But just like a farmer, we are equipped for the call. Until we receive a call, we need to keep our equipment in working order. Is your pray-er rusty? Are your blades dull? It’s God’s parts store, the body of believers, that can help us with those things.

When God gives us a mission, He doesn’t waste words – have you noticed that? We’re supposed to listen the first time. When you hear it, jump to action – farm out loud, pray out loud, live out loud!

Farm Out Loud!

Farming out loud

I’m the product of a rural school district in a small Missouri town, a farming community where I learned the value of hard work and the importance of faith. In high school, I got the chance to venture into uncharted territory and found that I can be comfortable even outside my bubble – on stage, behind a mic, in costume, on a four-wheeler, in the city, in the middle of nowhere, and in a blue corduroy jacket.  I am now a junior in college, settling into my area of interest, studying Agricultural Communications and Agricultural Education at Missouri State University. I am a proud resident of the honors dorm, which we affectionately call the Nerd Box. I have a passion for learning, and the more I get into agriculture, the more I realize there is to learn. I love representing my state and my school at conferences and events, and I’ve recently discovered a new love – covering events as a reporter for Missouri FFA Today and Cattlemen’s News, a publication of the Joplin Regional Stockyards. I’ve had the privilege of working as an intern at the Missouri Department of Agriculture, and I’m looking forward to this summer and the opportunities for great experience I’m certain it holds. It is my hope that I can contribute to the revolution of the agriculture industry by helping farmers to tell the story we’ve been in the middle of for as long as we can remember. I’m proud to say I’m a part of the minority – an American who isn’t even one generation removed from the family farm.

Since this is my first blog post, I think an explanation of this blog’s title and tagline are in order. Farm Out Loud is a combination of a couple of things – an old FFA slogan “Lead Out Loud,” and especially my favorite characterization of my father, the original “nerd farmer” in my life.

Dad finds people to visit with everywhere he goes, and he’s always talking about farming. Mom and I are supportive, but we know that it’s more likely than not that when we’re ready to head out for lunch after church, dad is behind the last row of pews “farming” with his friends. We smile and roll our eyes and Mom says, “Your father is farming out loud again.”  She even tells people sometimes that she teaches to support her husband’s farming habit.

All kidding aside, growing up with parents who are both passionate and excited about their careers made me the person I am today. I don’t know anything about choosing a major or a career for money – it’s all about passion. Having a job that takes up a lot more time than a typical 9 to 5 but doesn’t exactly pay that way is all I’ve ever seen, and I’m glad for it. Mom is a farmer’s daughter herself, Dad is a full-time row crop farmer, and agriculture has been ingrained in the whole family for as long as I can remember.

I can’t wait to enter the field as a liaison between farmers and companies, or even between farmers and customers. It’s unfortunate that many people seem to distrust their food sources. Regulation proposals based on misinformation are also a growing problem. There are exciting developments happening in agriculture too, like new technology, smarter equipment and stronger plant strains. My passion is to learn from any “nerd farmers” out there about how they would tell the story behind America’s agriculture industry. I believe that it’s time for farmers to join the conversation already in progress about food production and reliability everywhere it’s happening, including on social media. The good news about that? A lot of us are already here!

If my description of a “nerd farmer” sounds like you, I’d really love to hear from you! Leave a comment and/or a blog link if you want to help me out on this journey of discovery. If you have questions you want me to ask a nerd farmer, let me know!

’til we meet again, don’t forget to

Farm Out Loud!