Many of you are probably aware of the recent incident between a football coach and a newspaper reporter. Oklahoma State University’s football coach, Mike Gundy, let the media have it at a press conference because he felt that a certain sports writer did not get her facts straight about one of his players. I admire his strong support of his player, and his willingness to take a stand and speak up. But, he has received some criticism over the way he handled it. I guess maybe the reason I understand his position is because it is very similar to what we go through as farmers and ranchers. The media and anti-agriculture organizations, such as PETA, speak publicly of things they know nothing about, and they don’t take the time to get their facts straight. Such as the way they have attacked the poultry farmers stating they are polluting the water, but they have no research or proof of this claim. Maybe we as farmers and ranchers need to have a press conference to get our chance to rant and to set the story straight. I don’t know if it would do any good because some people just like to stir up trouble. I don’t mean to group all reporters together. There have been a few that have come to the source to search for the truth. But as usual, the bad outweighs the good. And unfortunately, the majority of the population has no firsthand experience with agriculture, so they believe what they hear; therefore, tarnishing the heritage we hold so dear. Remember, the farmers and ranchers are the ones who work with the land and nature day in and day out. Most of them started doing this when they were young under their father and grandfathers and they want to pass it down to the next generation. Don’t you think they are the ones that care the most about trying to preserve our earth. So, the next time you hear a bad report about agriculture, you might take a moment to ask a farmer or rancher the truth, or at least remind yourself that may not be the whole story. And as Gundy says, get the facts straight.