You don’t know me. You probably won’t ever know me. The media tends to overlook the small family farmers when they present the agriculture industry. Let me introduce myself.

My name is Megan Striegel and I grew up on one of those farms you say we’d be better off without. My mother works as a horticulturist while my father farmed and taught Agriculture Education at a high school 20 miles away. I can’t help but wonder if we’d be having a different conversation if agriculture was considered a core curriculum in the K-12 school system across the country.

Here at Iowa State, I notice my friends don’t always understand the agriculture industry like I do. I know it is partly the fault of our industry by losing touch and failing to communicate, since many Americans are disconnected from the production of their food supply. But it’s also the fault of our education system with the number of schools dropping or failing to have an agriculture program—we’re failing to educate about an industry that employs around 87 percent of Americans.

(Here’s a photo of my father with a few of his students at his retirement party celebrating 35 years of teaching agriculture in the public school system.)

My family runs a row crop operation of corn and soybeans. We not only have feeder cattle, a sheep herd and raise chickens, but we also plant and sell sweet corn in the summer. We are able to provide customers with fresh local products like farm fresh eggs, sweet corn by the dozen and harvest 2-3 steers each year and selling ¼ and ½ locker beef. The families buying from us love our produce. It’s usually cheaper than the supermarket, better quality and tastes better.

Let me take a moment to clear up some misconceptions with the animal industry.

(Our weaned lambs eating in May 2015)

We do care for our sick. If one of my steers is sick, we call the vet clinic and have him come out to our farm. When he comes, he usually prescribes us with an antibiotic for the steer, and we administer the medicine. The steer gets healthy, and we pay close attention to the withdrawal period on the drug. We do not sell or harvest cattle before the withdrawal date. Whether it is an antibiotic for livestock or chemicals on our sweet corn the strict requirements are followed. Our family consumes our produce as well as selling to our neighbors.

If you want Plesome more information on antibiotics

(My sister showing her Champion Produce Lamb at County Fair- she's always been more photogenic!)

I showed livestock as a kid and I treated my livestock humanely. From second grade in Clover Kids to High School, I went to county fairs with livestock. It started small with one bottle lamb when I was seven or eight but grew as I grew. The show itself is done in a few brief moments (a little longer if you get a talkative judge) and the hours in the barn leading up to it are the real prize. I would choose my sheep in mid march and the county fair was usually the third week of July. The months in between were filled with sweat, tears, blood and bruises.

These are the memories I will look back on in my life. The early morning walks down the lane with the sheep and my dad while talking about my future (or the softball game from the night before) washing my sheep in hot summer afternoons, and the winter mornings that my ewe gave birth to her first lamb. The livestock are so much more than just an animal in a pen. Spending the amount of time that I do with them, they develop personalities and I form close bonds. More than once during a trip to the local sale barn, I've teared up about saying goodbye to the livestock I grew to love.

(A group of young agriculture leaders at the World Food Prize Symposium in 2014)

Finally, I am an agriculturist. I believe in the future of agriculture, I believe in the advancements we have made and will make in the future are vital to our survival. I believe Norman Borlaug was correct in saying agriculture production must undergo a revolution if we are going to be able to feed the growing population.

“Our farmers deserve praise, not condemnation; and their efficiency should be cause for gratitude, not something for which they are penalized.” - John F Kennedy

We live in a country and world experiencing food insecurity at an alarming rate. The farm community realizes this and is taking careful steps to provide proven safe, high-quality product at an affordable price. We’re trying to feed the world, let us do our job so you can do yours.

Thanks,

A farmer's daughter