March 28, 2024

Iowa Soybean, 4-H leaders lend support to Ag Day

As the state of Iowa continues to invest in agrcultural endeavors from large-scale hog production to smaller, single-family farms, it’s no surprise that state and local leaders were quick to speak in support of National Ag Day, which is today.

“We’re pretty excited about it since we are a very ag-based state,” Communications Manger of the Iowa Soybean Association Heather Lilienthal said.

“We are part of group called the Iowa Food and Family Project, and what this project does is to really try and get beyond the farm gates and really reach out to people to find out more information about what farmers do on their farms.”

The Iowa Food and Family Project serves as an extension of the Iowa Soybean Association and aims to strengthen the connection between consumers and farm producers — a concept that encompasses the goals of Ag Day.

“On March 23, for the culmination of National Ag Week, we are going to host a special event the Iowa Machine Shed Restaurant in Urbandale,” she added.

“We have family farmers from Storm Lake who raise turkeys that are going to be on hand to talk about their long history with turkeys and being involved in farming. We are really looking forward to that on Saturday night.”

County Youth Coordinator for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Stacy Wilson found the heightened awareness of youth agriculture programs brought to light on Ag Day to be the most important facet of today’s designation.

“Any awareness that we can bring towards the careers and the work of farmers in agriculture careers is awesome,” she said. “We need more 4Hers to be involved in that and to continue to feed the world because we are gaining so many people and losing so much land. As far as Ag Day, anything like that is definitely a good thing”