Happy National Ag Day! While it’s really “ag day” everyday, we officially celebrate 2024’s National Ag Day on Tuesday March 19. Agriculture is important every day of year, but National Ag Day serves as a great day to share all of the amazing things that agriculture does. While agriculture literally puts food on the table, it contributes even more to our everyday life.
Here is why ag is important, on National Ag Day and every day!
Agriculture provides us with our food, fiber, lumber, beverages, fuel, and almost every item we use every day. It has a huge impact on quality of life since it provides us with medicine, clothing, tires, and so many other everyday items. Almost everything we eat, wear, and use comes from a plant or an animal.
Agriculture also plays a huge role in sustainability. One way that ag does this is with byproducts. Agricultural byproducts are a great way to reduce waste and recycle products that would otherwise go to waste. Byproducts are used for animal feed, cosmetics, medicine and medical equipment, fertilizer, and so much more. Leather is even a byproduct.
Agriculture is also leading the charge on decreasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. Agriculture accounts for 10 percent of GHG emissions, which is a small trade-off to make for an industry that does so much. Some of the ways ag is improving sustainability are by using new technologies and sustainable practices such as reduced tillage, cover crops, and methane digesters. Ag is doing such a good job at decreasing GHG emissions that other industries are buying the carbon credits generated from ag.
In addition to producing our food and many items we use every day, United States agriculture also has a huge impact on the economy. As of the 2023 Feeding the Economy report, U.S. ag included 46,283,917 total jobs (almost 35 percent of jobs in the U.S.) with a total of $2.61 trillion in total wages. The ag industry as a whole has an economic impact of $8.6 trillion. In 2022, agriculture accounted for 5.5 percent of U.S. GDP. Check out ag’s latest economic impact in the 2024 Feeding the Economy report, which is released on National Ag Day each year. Without ag, the U.S. economy would be drastically different. On a global scale, American ag also plays a big role. In 2023, total ag exports were valued at $178.7 billion. About 20 percent of our yearly agricultural production is exported.
Agriculture is more than just farming. National Ag Day is special because it honors everyone who works in ag. Some people work outdoors on a farm or ranch, while some people work in an office or a lab. Agriculture includes everything from social media, economics, technology, research, mechanics, sales, science, nutrition, engineering, education and so much beyond. This National Ag Day, be sure to extend a special thank you to the people who work in ag and might not get much recognition.
One of the best parts of agriculture isn’t even what agriculture does for the world, it’s the people that do it. It takes so many dedicated individuals to produce our food, make improvements in science and technology, tell the story of ag, and more. If you spend some time around people in ag, it’s easy to see how they love their jobs. People in ag also understand the importance of the impact they get to make on the world. Thank you to the hardworking people in ag across the country this National Ag Day. It is because of you that there is food on the table.
National Ag Day is a great day to start a conversation. If you work in agriculture, make a post on social media about what you do or if you’re in the grocery store, offer to answer someone’s questions. If you don’t have much ag experience, reach out to someone who works in agriculture, chances are they would love to talk with you. Any day is a good day to connect with someone in ag or share your ag story, but National Ag Day is a great day to make some extra effort. AGDAILY is one of many sponsors of National Ag Day.
National Ag Day events include both virtual and in-person gatherings in D.C. throughout the day, plus an event hosted by Agri-Pulse called 2024 Ag & Food Policy Summit: Revitalizing Rural Revenues, which will explore topics such as local food systems, biomanufacturing, environmental markets, and the potential to increase overseas demand.
It’s thanks to agriculture that we have food on our tables, clothes to wear, houses to live in, and countless items that we use. Remember to thank the dedicated, hardworking, and incredible individuals who are a part of this industry, not just on National Ag Day, but every day.
Michelle Miller, the “Farm Babe,” is an internationally recognized keynote speaker, writer, and social media influencer and travels full time to advocate for agriculture. She comes from an Iowa-based row crop and livestock farming background and now resides on a timber farm in North Central Florida.
