One thing the Indiana House and Senate Agriculture Committee chairs could easily agree on during the Indiana Ag Day ceremony at the statehouse yesterday is that the observance is important, for both farmers and Indiana consumers. Senator Jean Leising is from Oldenburg in Franklin County.
“You know every once in a while when I’m working on ag issues at the Statehouse somebody will say ‘oh I don’t care about those farmers, I’ll just go to the grocery store.’ I always have to laugh and at the same time of course it raises my ire and I’m giving them heck because truthfully, we all know where food comes from, so it’s very, very important,” she said.
Both the Senator and State Rep Don Lehe from Brookston in White County have spent many years on the farm, so they understand what it takes for farmers to drive the Indiana economy as they do. Lehe hopes farmers keep doing that important work.
“I understand all their challenges and all their efforts don’t go unnoticed,” he told HAT. “I appreciate all the efforts of agriculture in general, specifically farmers. There have been some ups and downs recently and we’ve got to stay the course and hope for a better future and continue to do the hard work.”
Lehe said many farmers play a key role at the statehouse educating their representatives about the important issues they face on the farm.
During the Tuesday observance of National Ag Day and governor’s proclamation of the day as Indiana Ag Day, other elected officials were joined by farmers, FFA members and state officers, and Indiana’s Family of Farmers, a group of the state’s major commodity and policy organizations promoting Indiana agriculture.
IFoF organized the day’s events at the Capitol building and elsewhere, according to the chair, Lauren Taylor.
“We had a dietician go along with a farmer on Fox59 this morning making pizza, and just talking about how pizza comes from different farmers, whether it be dairy farmers, wheat farmers, or pork farmers and how that all goes into pizza. We do a lot of activities out at the Indiana State Fair with the recipe trail that we hope consumers can learn by going to all the different buildings and getting them on the north side of the fairgrounds as well.
Also, Tuesday the winners of the IFoF Ag Day Video Contest were recognized. They submitted videos focused on the future of agriculture, and the 2017 winners are:
Grades 6-8:
- 1st Place Winner: Nathan Tuholski, from Mill Creek, Ind.
- 2nd Place Winner: John Jackson, from Jamestown, Ind.
- 3rd Place Winner: Shenandoah Middle School, from Middletown, Ind.
Grades 9-12:
- 1st Place Winner: Katelyn Smith, from Logansport, Ind.
- 2nd Place Winner: John Schuler, from Roann, Ind.
- 3rd Place Winner: Anna Taylor, from Corunna, Ind.