If you go to the PETA website you will find a link where you can vote for the "World's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity": http://www.goveg.com/feat/sexiestveg2007/. Among the names of celebrities vying for the title are: Carrie Underwood, Chelsea Clinton, Christie Brinkley, Kim Basinger, Lauren Bush, Alec Baldwin, Bob Barker, Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix, and Tony La Russa to name a few.

According to the PETA website, "these stars’ reasons for keeping animals off their plates are as diverse and inspiring as their talents—from avoiding the inexcusable cruelty to animals in factory farms and slaughterhouses to improving their own health and helping the environment."

This article made me wonder how popular being a "vegetarian" would be if someone common, who wasn't famous or well known, stood up and bragged about their vegetarian lifestyle. I doubt anyone would give it a second thought, let alone promote it. We see this everyday in rural America. While the media would like to portray a farmer as someone who is old, and only wears overalls and hats, (even on Sunday's), rural Americans know farmers don't always look like this. But how many people are listening to rural America, or even paying attention to rural America? While we are busy working to help feed our country, the media is portraying a false image of agriculture to our consumers, who believe what they hear. After all, if someone famous says it, it must be true, right?

As farmers, we can help educate our consumers by telling our story every chance we get. And many farmers are doing just that. But imagine if agriculture had over 200 celebrities promoting our story, spreading the truth about agriculture. How many people would listen? What if a celebrity stood up and said, "I was raised on a farm, and I know first hand a farmer's first priority is the well being of their animals. A farmer knows their family and farm's success depends on their animals being healthy and well cared for. A farmer is not going to do anything that would harm their animals because their livelihood depends on it." Or what if a celebrity said, "Farmers are good stewards of the land, I should know, my parents are farmers. They live and breathe the same air, and drink the same water as their neighbors, and they take extra precautions to protect our environment by managing their nutrients, and testing the soil and water."

Our consumers trust the media to educate them accurately about their food and fiber and it appears many of our consumers are comfortable trusting celebrity opinions, even if the facts contradict what they say. It’s time agriculture finds our CELEBRITY VOICES!