I honestly feel like I woke up one morning and everyone turned on the American farmer. It really hit me when I had friends/family sharing false information regarding the dairy industry. No one asked any questions, they just shared pictures, articles, blog posts, etc. From animal welfare to the quality of our milk, the amount of misinformation being passed around was incredibly scary.
I immediately started to respond to these posts. I had some say that they just did not know, others say thank you for clarifying it and I had some delete or ban me. I wanted to know how someone could share information that they have not researched themselves as being fact and why someone I personally knew would share something from a complete stranger as fact instead of asking me, a person they actually knew.
I quickly realized the need to speak up. I began to search for other farmers that were online & to my surprise there were quite a few. I decided that if they could do it, I could too.
Thus our farm page was created. I began sharing stories, photos, articles I found interesting, etc. I quickly realized that many of my fellow farmers/ranchers only had followers in the hundreds with a small group with followers in the thousands. How could this be? Everyone is so concerned about the animals, land and wants to know everything about their food. Animal welfare is a concern yet people would rather go to PETA than an actual farmer. Food safety is a concern yet people would rather read a blog from someone that has never stepped foot on a farm over asking a farmer. People are concerned about the land, pesticides, tilling practices & the like but they do not ask the farmers as to why our operations are ran the way they are. If everyone has questions and concerns, don’t you think they would go to the source? Wouldn’t you think their number one resource would be the farmer? Sadly, it isn’t.
For about a year and a half now, I have been sharing our farm with anyone interested. I have endured the attacks of activists. Being accused of being a rapist to a murderer, I have heard pretty much everything. I have been accused of poisoning the children of the United States to being on the receiving end of very confused and emotional individuals. But I have stuck it out (only wanting to quit a few times).
Why? Well because the future of agriculture, the future of dairy farming depends on us speaking up. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard “I learned something new today”, “thank you for sharing”, “I did not know that”, etc. I have been told by some that they are happy to know that what extremist share is not the truth of all farms. I may not be reaching the masses but working together with fellow farmers/ranchers and bringing more farmers/ranchers on board, we will. We can work together to be the voice for agriculture, the voice that has been absent for far too long.
So when someone asks the question as to why I do it, my response is simple. My children. As farmers/ranchers we only make up 1-2% of the United States population. We are the minority and for far too long those that are against what we do have been spreading false information. It is time for damage control. It’s time for everyone to speak up, join forces and tell the truth, tell the real story. If we don’t, this life we are working for every day, the life we are completely devoted to just might not be an option for our children.
Speak up, share your story…
Krista Stauffer
Latest posts by Krista Stauffer (see all)
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Thank you for doing what you do. For me my own dream pretty much got torched. But with happening, I made 3 decisions. One would be to help those still doing what they love by writing articles showing what was going on. Not PETA stuff, but that which helps open eyes in a positive manner for farmers/ranchers. The second would be to rebuild, but somewhere else. Lastly to do something, hedge my bet so could help others have their dream and I could do what had long wanted. Just on a smaller scale.
I still have a few head and they’ll go with me to the new place. It will be a big change for them in climate and altitude and hope to find some other stock where we’re going to help acclimate future generations quicker.
Keep pushing forward, that is what you have to do! I wish you the best with your new adventure! 🙂
Yes it’s so important to share our stories! It saddens me too that people take PETA, HSUS, Mercy For Animals’ words over words of farmers and ranchers who do this for a living! A person in my own family retweet’s anti-GMO rhetoric and doesn’t even know why…or care to ask her relative (my husband) who has a degree in crop sciences!
Your story is so similar to mine! I also realized rather suddenly that the world is being supplied with false and misconstrued information about the dairy industry, and it seemed that there was only a small group speaking up for agriculture. I add my voice in small ways: I respond to anti-dairy comments on milk related pages, I started up a farm facebook page and twitter account, and we’ve applied to have our farm included on the farm tour list in our area. I think that every farmer’s voice needs to be heard vocalizing our support for the industry and countering all of the lies and half-truths told by certain groups. I hope that my small contributions help out in some way. I love your blog, and someday would also like to start my own farm wife blog as well. I love your writing and look forward to following your experiences!
Great to meet you!! If you send me your email in a private message, I can send you an invite to our women’s ag group.