Eleven Warriors

This commercial took the place of the Clint Eastwood ad last year. That one received a lot of notoriety.

God Bless our farmers. Great ad from Chrysler, almost as good as the one with Clint from last year, which is my ATF.....

I loved this ad, especially the photography and Paul Harvey. Grew up in Bowling Green, where your dad was probably a professor or a farmer. Future Farmers of America was a big club at BGHS. Guys proudly wore their FFA jackets. Wood County Fair was a big deal for the 4-Hers. Farm kids went to OSU as Ag majors. And farm kids worked their butts off on the family farm. I am assuming that the same pretty much holds true today.

I didn't grow up on a massive farm, I lived in the suburbs, but my granparents had a 10 acre plot of land that they quite literrally paid their mortgage off of.  They scraped together every dime they could and built a house on that 10 acres.  Both my grandparents worked, but they depended on the sales from the strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and beans they grew and sold to restaurants and stores every year.  From the time I was 5 years old I was in the field with them and my parents working in the summer.  At the early age, it was probably more me playing in the dirt but by the time I was 12 years old I was a pretty important part of the work force. We were hardly "farmers" but I have soft spot in my heart for farmers.  

I also worked for a small family farm that was a produce farm.  They had several thousand tomato and pepper plants, acres of potatoes, sweet potatoes sweet corn, pumpkins, and an apple and peach orchard. My grandparents and that job gave me the work ethic I have today.

There's something very satisfying about seeing something transform from seed to crop.  There's also a pretty cool feeling eating a local pizza place and knowing that bell peppers I picked that morning are on the pizza I ordered that night!

There's not a day that goes by in my desk jockey job where I don't wish I was on a ladder in the apple orchard, or crawling through the tomato patch filling up baskets.  There's a freedom in doing that kind of work.  It's far more satisfying than answering the next call non stop for 8 hours per day. 

Awesome to see other farm folks in this thread. My great-grandfather graduated from OSU in the 1920s and paid his way through school working at the dairy barns on West Campus (and sparring in amateur boxing matches downtown). Both of my grandfathers graduated from the ag college, and my parents met as freshmen in the Dairy Science Club. My sister and I both graduated with B.S. and M.S. degrees in agriculture (we don't talk about our little brother - B.A. in Strat Comm).

Farming is the world's toughest job. I started helping on the farm when I was in elementary school, feeding calves and generally being underfoot. My siblings and I took on the full responsiblity for our young cattle when we were in middle school; we'd come home from ball practice or play practice and feed, water, and bed our calves and heifers. In high school, we milked cows after school. My fondest memories are of helping my dad on sticky summer nights, moving milkers while listening to Indians games on the radio. I learned to work hard and to - literally - put up with a lot of shit. 

My parents sold our herd this past fall, and it was probably the hardest decision we've ever made as a family. My father put 30 years into those cattle, and letting go was tough. (Though it was GREAT to watch the OSU-scUM game this year and not have to fight over who was going to do chores afterwards!)

Hands down the best commercial of them all, in what was an extremely weak showing of ads.  Great post by BT.  I grew up on 5 acres, but it was all woods.  The neighbors had chickens, horses, goats, etc... which I helped feed and play with quite a bit growing up.   The farmer behind us had 400+ acres of cattle and corn.  As a kid, exploring in his fields felt like we walked for miles.  Fall meant making mazes out of the corn.  But my best memory was my grandpa, who lived in Lancaster, and was a farmer down to his soul.  Slaughtered his own hogs and chickens, and just oozed farmer out of every pore of him.  That commercial had my arms and neck covered in goosebumps the whole time.  The ceiling fan may have been blowing a little bit of the dust around the house, too.  I've always respected the hell out of farmers, and feel they are way overlooked with regard to their importance to our country.

The future of farming is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIbXU5iR2P4

Great post. To aesculus' point, Do you think:

From animal rights activists to environmental extremists to the simple fact that more Americans have more questions about where their food comes from than ever before, farmers are under a magnifying glass, for better or for worse.

My feeling is that Americans are more concerned over huge corporate farms.  I grew up in the suburbs so I would love some insight from people who know.

liked the ad but american farming today is a joke. They have been stripped of all freedoms and dignity. They are now just another plug in the machine that is corporate food. If you have not seen food inc the documentary please view it and you will feel pain for todays farmers who are essentially errand boys for the giant tysons and montesannos of the world. I hope one day farming will return to glory but currently american farming is no good and that's part of the reason americans are such fat asses.

Long time 11W follower, first time poster. I absolutely loved this commercial. I grew up in Delphos, OH on a farm.  Although I now live in Findlay (not on a farm), this commercial brought back so many great memories from my childhood.  My dad and Grandpa were both huge Paul Harvey fans.  Makes me really miss the simple times of being out in the fields and all the years spent in 4-H.  Thanks Dodge..... Well done!!  Oh yea....  GO BUCKS!!!!

Andy --- man, you're really good. I feel like you should be interviewed on television anytime there's a farming question. I hope Fox News, ABC News, CNN, etc. all have your number in case they need an expert opinion.

I won't derail this thread. Great commercial and it struck a nerve for a lot of people, my family including. I grew up on my grandfather's farm in Scioto County. One of my earliest memories as a child was that of my grandpa coming in from plowing a field to plant corn (he still used a horse for that back then) and remember the smell of earth and sweat on him. My grandpa was a boilermaker during WW2 and helped build many of the new factories that went up for the war effort. When he retired, be bought a farm and worked on it up until he died of cancer. I remember taking him to chemotherapy just before he passed away in the morning. In the afternoon he was in his barn feeding his horse. To this day whenever I smell dirt or cut firewood or wood smoke burning or even the smell of flowers that bloom in Ohio in the spring I automatically think of my childhood and my grandparents (who have been gone longer than many folks on here have been alive). The commercial choked me up thats for sure. Anything that can generate that kind of emotional response is priceless in my book. Great commercial, Andy. :)

While I'm an unbridled capitalist at heart, I still have a passion for Ohio grown melons.....does that make me a locavore?

Dear Andy, 

Farmers are not "controlled" or bullied by "big ag" or corporations. This is perhaps the most pernicious and factually errant - yet widely repeated - fallacy on the market today. - Andy

Perhaps you missed last summer when over 300,000 people and 4,500 farms sued Monsanto for seed patenting because they felt bullied.  

Here is the movie, David vs. Monsanto that chronicles the stories of farmers bullied by Monsanto.

Five million Brazilian farmers are now locked in a legal feud with US biotech giant Monsanto, the GM soy seed manufacturer, and are refusing to pay crop royalties.  The lawsuit began more than 4 years ago over the 2% fee charged on each farm’s total soy sales by Monsanto, in perpetuity once their seeds have been found to contain some of Monsanto’s patented genetic traits.
 

Ninety-six percent of farms are family owned and operated. -Andy

This number is very misleading.  It represents more of the shell that once was rather than what ag has become today.  Here are the production dollars and the distribution of money.  The 96% family farms you speak of produce about 6% of the total production dollars.  What people think is a family farm and what has actually become that, are two very different things.

And there is a good reason why this is the case: basic economics. Understand that farming requires very large fixed costs - land, livestock and machinery all cost significant amounts of money. So, once you've invested a certain amount of capital, it becomes easier to grow larger because you can spread your fixed costs across more units of production. -Andy

I think your totally off here Andy, and here's why.  First, subsities.  The US handed out $277.3 billion in subsidies 1995-2011.  In the top 5 are corn and soy.  So for every chicken, cow, and pig those farmers are heavily benefiting from the discout feed they are receiving.  In California, corn farmers farm at a loss.  In Ohio the average corn producer nets about $225 PER ACRE.  Why produce 1000's of acres of gmo corn that supports a company that sues farmers to produce cheap meat that is really not cheap at all, it's subsidiesed by us, the tax payers.  So instead of the real cost of food, we've backdoored the system by making it appear like cheap food, when in fact we just go further into debt as a country.

Why not diversify your farm and sell locally?  When we sell direct locally we can net up to $30,000 per acre with lower land entry cost, lower large machinery cost, and lower livestock cost because the food we are selling is being directly marketed, which gives the producer higher margins.  Also in a vertically integrated system we can compete with conventional food prices and give people what they really want; a connection to their food.  

People still make a living the way my Grandparents did: they're called the Amish. The rest of us choose to live a modern lifestyle with a modern cost of living. Getting bigger isn't bad, and corporate farms are not running America - it's a lifestyle, yes, but it's also a business. -Andy

This comment really is very telling of what you think local food systems are.  To get a sense of what I think they could be, take a look at my company, SweetSoil.  We are using Keyline, Holistic Management, Permaculture, and Soil Biology, to redesign what the family farm looks like.  We have consulted with the largest fruit and vegetable producers in the world and helped transform the waste streams of major metropolitan areas

You don't have to farm like your grandparents anymore, and you can still afford your cell phone.

AMERICAN MEAT TRAILER from Leave It Better on Vimeo.

American Meat Documentary to Screen at OEFFA Conference:
Movie Addresses Issues Facing the U.S. Meat and Poultry Industry
Press Release
Granville, OH—American Meat, a documentary film about the U.S. meat and poultry industry, will be shown at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association’s (OEFFA) 34th annual conference, Growing Opportunities, Cultivating Change, on Saturday, February 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Loved the ad, and I appreciate it more considering they probably spent close to $12 million or more on it. 

Dear Andy, 

I can understand how this issue pulls at the heartstrings.  Food and family is important to everyone here and after all, OSU is one big family.  No matter what we agree or don't agree on what's most important is we stick together.  That's what farmers have always done, and will continue to do.

Perhaps I can offer you a glimps into the world of sustainability and farming that you haven't seen before.  My training as a farm designer is very rare and while people like Joel Salatin practice some of the methods, we aim to take our systems even further.  

I'm not much for attacking in my general theory and behavior.  I think a more drawn out discussion of facts and philosophy is how I approach a situation.  I do not have a product to sell, nor am I part of a left movement. 

I'm simply concerned with the path that modern ag is taking and rather than fight against the emormous wave that is our food reality, I'm taking action and returning to Ohio from California after 12 years to start a regenerative farm.  

I don't think that big ag is some menace to society or that it must be stopped in order for us to continue.  Quite the opposite, big ag is why we are here today.  It feeds us, keeps us clothed and I have a deep appreciation for the last 80 years of diesel, dirt, and devotion.  My great grandfather was a cotton and tobacco farmer in North Carolina before the flood.  I grew up in knox county oh where 90% of the land is ag.  

To reply to you:

But, if you'd like a little more information on why I think the anti-Monsanto line of reasoning outlined above is misleading at best despite its fell-good tone, here is some good information from a pair of young farmers writing at CNN's Eatocracy blog. First, a look at the numbers from Arkansas rancher Ryan Goodman: -Andy

Here is the acutal reason from Ryan Goodman on why "some people think family farmers become slaves to the corporations".

My vendors, my choice

 

Here's the part where some people think family farmers become slaves to the corporations - the part where GMO seeds force us to buy our chemicals from the same company (but if you've got a Technology/Stewardship Agreement handy you'll find this is not true.): If I plant Roundup® Ready (RR) crops, Monsanto would sure like me to use Roundup® herbicide on them. But I don't have to.

The agreement says for RR crops I should only use Roundup® herbicide or another authorized herbicide which could not be used in the absence of the RR gene.  When I worked off the farm, I sold a lot of generic brand glyphosate, a common herbicide.  It's just like buying your grocer's private label brand of cough medicine instead of the name brand.  The only catch is if you have a problem you need to talk with the company that provided the herbicide.

If we spray Brand X and it doesn't work, it won't do any good to go crying to Monsanto.  Sounds like pretty standard business practice to me. If you bought a Cadillac would you call a Toyota dealer with a warranty issue?  Furthermore, I don't even have to use glyphosate on my glyphosate-tolerant crops.-Ryan Goodman

Ok I'm still scratching my head.  I basically see a farmer who agrees with monsanto.  But at the same time he doesn't address the issue of genetic drift  as the main issue I've outlined in my previous posts. I'm open to any other justifications as to why monsanto sues farmers such as Percy Schmeiser or the millions of other farmers involved in monsanto lawsuits.  But I think you really miss the point.  

Genetic drift means that gmo pollen is drifing into non-gmo pollen fields and then monsanto is saying that those farmers are using their gmo seed and not paying for it. See below.

 

Perhaps you missed last summer when over 300,000 people and 4,500 farms sued Monsanto for seed patenting because they felt bullied.

Here is the movie, David vs. Monsanto that chronicles the stories of farmers bullied by Monsanto.

Five million Brazilian farmers are now locked in a legal feud with US biotech giant Monsanto, the GM soy seed manufacturer, and are refusing to pay crop royalties.  The lawsuit began more than 4 years ago over the 2% fee charged on each farm’s total soy sales by Monsanto, in perpetuity once their seeds have been found to contain some of Monsanto’s patented genetic traits. -Aesculus.

These are actual lawsuits not just rhetoric.

Goodman's data summary underscores what I was saying above: as the cost of living increased over the past 30 years, we saw fewer full-time farmers, more small "lifestyle farms," and yet agriculture as a whole is producing significantly more food on far fewer acres. -Andy

This statement really confuses me.  It seems to contradict itself.  If farms are producing more per acre, shouldn't that cover the higher costs of living?  

Look, here are some of my concerns on the issues.  

Nutrient dense foods.  As you know most corn goes for animal feed and fuel but alot goes into junk food.  Products using HFCS are a know cause of Diabetes.  68.8% of adults are overweight or obese; 35.7% are obese.   It's hard not to correlate our eating habits with the food we're eating.  Please watch:

Our whole current system depends on forgien oil.  The average food travels 1500 miles before it reaches it's destination. The total food supply for Columbus, OH is 3 days. That means if there was an interuption of service for some reason, any reason (terrorist?), for more than 3 days, Columbus would eat itself alive.  We have no food security, because we can't eat just corn and soybeans.

How much soil do we have left?  There is currently no plan for soil genesis. (scientific study to create soil)  We are losing our soil much faster than we think.  Here is the Iowa State U. study to back up the EWG video, it is to date the most comprehensive soil erosion study done on the planet.