Actually Helping Farmers

ANF. America Needs Farmers.

All of you Hawk fans see it on helmets, or on some T-shirt promoted by Iowa Farm Bureau, and think - man that's a pretty cool lightning bolt, but I wonder what it stands for?

Back in 1985, Hayden Fry started "America Needs Farmers" as a promotion to help our agricultural producers through the Farm Crisis. That was 29 years ago.

To help out our farmers during the crisis, the government provided direct payments, no matter whether they had a profitable or non-profitable crop. This past year, direct payments were taken away. Just because something made sense then, doesn't mean it makes sense now.

As a farmer myself, I find it a great misrepresentation that the University of Iowa is the primary supporter of this program. If you were to Google "Does the University of Iowa help Farmers?," your first two links would be - you guessed it - Iowa State University!

ISU is widely known as one of the premier agricultural colleges in the world. It offers majors ranging from Agronomy to Animal Science, and Ag Systems Technology to International Ag. What does Iowa offer its yearning farmers? They offer programs in Ag medicine and Occupational and Environmental Health. Sounds a lot like more medicine to me.

And speaking of medicine, ISU also has the oldest Veterinary Medicine program. Ever.

Actually Helping Farmers, that's what ISU does.  AHF should be the new symbol instead of ANF.

Iowa State University provides prospective students with jobs in agriculture, and are the real promoters. They offer seminars and education through their state-funded Extension programs in every county. Millions of dollars are put into research on campus for biotechnology and enhancements of agricultural production. Not just statewide, but worldwide.

Somebody has to provide food, fuel and fiber for the world.

AHF > ANF

The state of Iowa sits atop as King of the Mountain for Agriculture. We are number one in production of corn, soybeans, hog production, egg production, and number two in wind energy. With twice as much supply as any other state in ethanol, you should thank your friendly Iowa farmer for cheaper fuel prices.

Iowa is a university known for their liberal arts and medical programs. Iowa State is known for agriculture and engineering. Which one would you say correlates more to farmers?

There are over 130,000 farmers in the state of Iowa and tens of thousands more who are directly involved in the Ag economy. This state was founded upon agriculture, and will continue to thrive upon it.

America needs farmers, its just that the University of Iowa is the least worthy advocate to promote it. ISU is the real Ag school in the state, and no longer should a ploy to sell merchandise be the front runner to America's consciousness when it comes to helping out the American farmer.

Yet, we'd love to offer you the chance to promote the AHF initiative by purchasing one of our shirts, but the University of Iowa has laid claim to gold circles with three letters in them, and made sure to tell us about it.

Iowa State.  The university that actually helps put food on your table.  Never forget it.

And since we are promoting symbols today, I would like to promote the term #FTHYCS, in light of Hate Week. If you have to ask what it means, you can't afford it.