With the warm weather, I know that my family has been outside more often. We have been walking, biking, and taking care of yard work. We will soon start the process of making hay. This is a great opportunity to remind everyone to be careful and mindful about rural roadway safety.

Many of our communities do not have sidewalks, but have narrow roads, with little or no shoulders. These are the roads where our children learn to ride their bikes and walk down to meet up with their friends. Please remember to slow down and move to the opposite side of the road (if it is safe to do so) if you are driving past pedestrians and bicyclists.

This is also the time of year when there is an increase in the amount of farm equipment and machinery traveling the roadway. Even though most equipment is outfitted with lights and slow moving vehicle (SMV) signs, please keep in mind that tractors with implements may need to slow down or make turns into fields. We are not trying to hold you up while traveling; we are trying to operate safely to get back home to our families at the end of the day.

Please help us to keep our children, husbands, parents, siblings, and friends safe while on rural roadways this summer.

These are the unspoken words being told agriculture. Congress is pushing at warp speed to forever shackle our industry to the regulatory whims of EPA and FDA.

In the name of global warming, clean water and safer food they boldly charge. What is our response? "The costs of these burdens will be unbearable."

Congressional leadership, soccer moms and Joe six-pack don't care! We need to vividly explain to them this avalanche of regs and costs will ultimately mean their children and grandchildren will be dependent on imported food. Then in 25 years when they ride their mopeds through the trees where food once grew we can politely tell them "We told you so."

It's the time of year when we are all busy working long hours in the unrelenting heat. Thad and I had the opportunity to take a short break and entertain a few teachers from South Carolina. Well actually, it was 50 teachers and they were participating in the SC Farm Bureau Ag-Institute.

We agreed to host the afternoon portion of the farm tour these teachers took part in. We started around noon and provided a meal for the teachers. Remember the key to good listening is good food so we wanted to start things off right! After lunch, we started the tour. We migrated first to our cow pastures where our friendly herd watched quietly as they were being observed by a large group of spectators. We answered many questions and even asked some of our own. It was amazing to find out how many people had never been this close to real live cattle.

Our next part of the tour took us right across the road to our farm shop and office. We had the equipment arranged in the order that it would be used from planting to harvest. Thad gave a brief summary on what each piece of equipment was used for. You could hear the comments swarming as he talked about the ways we work to conserve our land, and the good practices we use to ensure a safe, affordable food supply. I overheard one teacher tell another "Gosh, farming is really up to date and high tech". We let them look at the different seeds that we plant on our farm and then spent a brief period answering their questions.

We spent the last part of the tour doing a field demonstration. We walked as a group to a nearby field and observed the cotton and soybeans that were planted. We showed them how crops are sprayed and also let them look at one of our irrigation systems. The questions just kept coming. Before we knew it, our time was up and they had to board their bus to get to the next part of their tour.

Needless to say, it was a fun, rewarding day. We got the chance to share our story with people who probably would not ever get the opportunity to hear it otherwise. The whole tour from start to finish took about two and one half hours but will be long lasting in the minds of these teachers. It will certainly be one that Thad and I will talk about for many days to come.

I encourage all farmers reading this blog to take a few minutes to share your story.

In agriculture, there seems to be an opposition in all aspects. There is either too much rain or a drought, or there are low commodity prices courted by high input costs. Whatever the case, it seems that rarely things go as planned.

Case in point, June is normally the driest month of the year for us. So when it is time to cut the first hay crop, the weather forecast said scattered showers for a couple of days - that was three weeks and 4 inches of rain ago. Not good for the cut hay that is now turning black with mold. On the other side, the pastures have never looked so good.

The fact is that in agriculture some things can't be fixed or at least fixed the way we would like it. So how do farmers and ranchers stay so optimistic when the ag industry can look so gloomy and is controlled by so many things so out of their control?

The answer: They are some of the best people in America who take pride in what they do. And what they do is feed and clothe the world. There isn't anything much greater than that, is there?

So, I ask, can you fix it? Well if it's broke, give it to a farmer or rancher and they can fix it or make do with what they are given. They do it everyday!

Agriculture is under attack. No it isn't an attack by insects, droughts or other pests. Those attacks we can fend off on our own, we are used to things out of our control. No, this attack is in the form of a movie called "Food Inc." It is a sensationalized, full-on attack of the farmers and ranchers who utilized modern technology to produce the most wholesome, abundant supply of food in the world. If you a member of the agriculture community I am asking you to share our story with your non-ag friends and associates. Education is the key to stemming this tide mis-informed, anti-ag messages.

For those of you who do not have close ag ties, I want to tell you about my neighbors and myself. Most of us have farming and ranching deeply in grained in our roots. In many cases, we have owned the land for several generations and there are as many as three to four generations currently working that piece of land. We have grown-up working alongside our parents and grandparents and now work everyday with our children.

All of my neighbors have a deep love of the land and strive to be the best stewards of it. We seek out the latest methods of conserving and protecting our lands and saving them for the next generation. We take great pride in the beauty that surrounds us on a daily basis. In short, farmers and ranchers are the ultimate conservationists.

While we revel in our past and the history that surrounds us, we also realize our commitment to society. We utilize the latest technology to produce more food and fiber with less land and fewer inputs. Advances in technology actually make us better, safer (both for humans and the environment) and more efficient. We realize we feed all of humanity and take great pride in doing so.

We are the ones who provide the income and the tax base for most of our rural counties, who in turn provide much of the support for all of the United States. We cannot continue to prosper without a strong agricultural base in this country. In the words of Ben Boyd, a peanut farmer from Georgia and a good friend, "If you like being dependant on foreign oil, your really going to love foreign food".

So let's stand up to the people who created this piece of fiction and to the celebrities who endorse it. I would venture most of them have never known what it was like to go without. We need to make sure that the story of agriculture is told by those who know and understand. If you do not know a farmer or rancher, I encourage you to take a trip and visit one of my friends and truly listen and watch them. I guarantee that you will have a whole new appreciation for the food on your table.

When I go to the doctor, I don’t ask to be treated with methods from 1912 because I know science and technology have improved medical practices throughout the years. The same is true today with agriculture. Thanks to technology, farmers and ranchers are better able to produce safe and abundant food for our growing nation. This week there is a movie being released in cities across the United States that misrepresents how farmers and ranchers produce food in this country. After reading several reviews of the movie, I am disturbed by the one-sided information being spread about how farmers and ranchers produce food. This movie is an assault on food production and agriculture. No matter the size of your farm or ranch, if you are a modern farmer, using science-based production methods, the messages of this movie are an affront to you staying in business.

As a farmer, agriculture is my life calling, and I have dedicated my life to producing safe, nutritious and affordable food. Our farm operation revolves around my family, and we manage every aspect of our farm in a socially responsible manner so we can pass it down to our children. Animal agriculture is the backbone of my rural community and many other rural communities across this country. I understand that contemporary agriculture doesn’t look like it did in the past. But agriculture is like many other industries that have had to become more efficient to survive. If our farm was not efficient, we wouldn’t be able to stay in business or provide for our children. The production practices I use are ethically grounded, scientifically verified, and economically viable.

Makers of the movie attempt to paint me and other farmers like me as victims of an evil food system. Nothing could be further from the truth. I freely choose the technology I put in place on my family farm, and I am grateful for it. I decide what works and what does not. Ultimately, my goal is to safely, efficiently and humanely produce food for Americans. The practices I employ to do that are all geared toward protecting the well-being and health of our animals so I can produce healthy food for consumers, and sustain my family’s ability to live on and care for our land and raise our animals.

Our farm is our sustainable legacy and we have an obligation to our family, neighbors, community and animals. We wouldn’t be in business today if we didn’t provide our animals with a safe and healthy environment in which to grow. My family breathes the same air and drinks the same water as our neighbors. Our farm makes it a priority to protect our environment, not just for my family, but for my community and for future generations so they have it as good, or better, than I do. There are very strict standards in place for nutrient and waste management, and we respect, support and abide by these standards. We do this because we care about providing safe food for our family, and your family.

As a consumer, please do not buy into scare tactics that aim to put modern family farmers and ranchers out of business. Contact a farmer or rancher who uses science and technology; learn more about why they use it and how it works. And, while you’re at it, you might want to check out the Web site www.safefoodinc.org. It sheds light on specific issues raised by the movie and provides facts about agriculture, not fiction from the silver screen.

Does a potential tax on health care benefits affect farmers and ranchers? You bet it does as many farmers and ranchers use what is known as a Section 105 medical reimbursement plan, which is a health care benefit of their operation. Using these plans can reduce rural health care costs by as much as one third for a married couple working on their farm or ranch operation due to tax savings.

Starting a medical reimbursement plan for a young farm family is not as easy as filling out a form and turning it over to your human resource person. There are a few hoops to jump through, the biggest is that you really need to be married if you are a sole proprietor – I'm really not making this up. And I would recommend the guidance of a CPA or accountant to navigate the rest of the payroll and reporting requirements. However, saving one-third of your medical expenses can easily make the difference today in a young farm family being able to stay in agriculture.

Instead of taxing health care benefits we need to simplify the rules so that all farm families and individuals qualify for these benefits. It is all to common to hear that one spouse has to keep their "town job" just for the health care benefits. From experience I know that having my wife not tied to a job for health benefits has not only increased our operations productivity but also makes our operation safer for myself and our family. Having an extra pair of eyes or an extra hand can definitely reduce the risk of many farm tasks such working with a cow and her newborn calf or on machinery.

Having a daughter myself with medical issues, I know that I could not have survived financially without having a medical reimbursement plan as part of our operation, as we saw some years medical expenses exceed net income. Today we are still an independent operation putting money back into our local economy which in turn provides jobs to my neighbors. So let's use tools we already have and remove barriers so that all farms and ranches can participate thereby making our rural health care system stronger.

I was recently approached by a woman in our community who asked if I could help unload a truckload of food for our local food bank. Like any other farmer at this time of year, I was hesitant because of all the things that needed to be done at home in the fields; but I agreed to help. When the day arrived, it had already been one of those crazy mornings when nothing seemed to go right. In order to speed things up, I decided to take one of our employees along to help. On the way to town, Nate and I talked about the food bank and programs like America’s Second Harvest and how Young Farmers and Ranchers across the nation participate and volunteer their time and energy to help people in need. After thinking about it for a bit, his response was, “Kind of cool to think the people that grew it are actually helping to give it away." How true of a statement is that!

By this time, I had started to forget about how crazy the morning had been and started focusing more on unloading the truck. When we arrived, we were greeted graciously by the two women in charge of the food pantry and were given our unloading instructions. Cereal here, potatoes there, green beans over here…"Green beans," I said. “We raise green beans.” So I looked at the can to see what kind they were. Nope, not ours; but that sure did start the questions flowing about our operation and what we did.

They were amazed at all the things (technology, record keeping, effort, care) that we put into raising our crops and animals. Later that night, I was thinking about how we often take for granted that people – even in our small communities (many we already know) – understand how and why we do things. It is our responsibility as young farmers and ranchers to be available and willing to answer their questions. If we do not, who will?