On Thanksgiving Americans pause to give thanks for many things and this year, thanks to the Beck’s Hybrids Why I Farm campaign, it’s likely that more people will be thinking about farmers during meal time. At about the time the Dodge Ram commercial was captivating a Super Bowl audience early in 2013, the Beck’s staff was working on a way to honor farmers. Why I Farm is the result and Ryan Parkin with Beck’s says reaction has blown away their expectations.
“It’s really turned into a movement we’ve started to determine, and it’s really grown throughout the nation actually,” he said. “At the FFA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky I had advisors and students from all over the country come up and tell me they played our videos in the classroom or shared them with their family.”
So where does the movement go from here now that it has become so popular and powerful?
“I think we have to sort it out to be honest with you because it’s taken on a life of its own. People have embraced it for such a positive message not only in agriculture but in American culture. A lot of these farmers have the values that really built this nation to be the great nation that it is, and they talk about that through their farm. They have respect for their elders, their family members who came before them to create the opportunity to farm. They have appreciation for their faith and God that helped them become caretakers of the land.”
He adds there has been another important benefit from the great stories the farmers tell.
“People not familiar with agriculture can hear these stories and realize ‘I really like that person. Those are the kind of people I want raising my food.'”
Parkin tells HAT the campaign will be back for 2014 and should be around for some time to come. See the inspirational videos at the heart of the campaign at Why I Farm.com, and in the full HAT interview he shares some of the online media data for Why I Farm: Ryan Parkin