I’m currently working on an application for an Ag Promotion Grant from the Minnesota Farm Bureau Foundation. Our county Farm Bureau would like to host our 2nd Breakfast on the Farm in June 2010. We held our first in June 2008.

What started as early morning ramblings in our milking parlor in the fall of 2007, morphed into a perfect opportunity for us to “tell our story” by June 2008.

One of our goals was to communicate the economic value of animal agriculture. With that in mind, I asked for volunteer and monetary support from the business connections we had. I was pleasantly surprised by their reaction, it was usually “when is it?” or “how can I help?”. They were asked to attend wearing their work uniform, we wanted the public to see the people employed by animal agriculture. Our nutritionist, DHIA fieldman, and 2 AI company representatives lead the farm tours. The wife of our DHIA fieldman was the perfect person to run the information table. Our veterinarian wanted to set-up his own booth, and had video of the ultrasound we use to pregnancy check the cows. A local lamb and wool producer asked if she could set-up a booth.

Not only did the local agri-businesses volunteer, but we had the local 4-H clubs keeping the tables clean, and they set-up a petting zoo. The local FFA chapters ran our state’s Farm Bureau Safety Trailer. Our county Dairy Ambassadors made an appearance also. I originally asked them to be on hand to serve milk and cheese; they called me back and asked if they could also do some activities for the kids – wonderful! Our local Sheriff’s Reserve was on hand to assist with parking. We had other people who volunteered to do a shift serving the food. The list could go on and on.

On the big day, we had about 400 people attend. Due to the efforts of our many volunteers, it truly turned into a family event. I remember a lady made a point of coming up to me during the breakfast to thank me, she made a point of telling me that she brought her 2 grandkids from the metro area with her, this was the first time they had been on a farm. After talking with people who had lead tours, and other members of our farm, we had a lot of conversations that day that “told our story”.

Over a year later, I still have people that I have never met before ask me when we are having another Breakfast on the Farm (the last time was in the post office parking lot). We are hoping to add more to it this time by having a scheduled time that we can talk about our farm, the care we give our cows, and what we do to protect the environment. It is my hope that we can reach even more people this time, and “tell our story”.