DICKINSON, N.D. - One of the best things about my passion, pheasant hunting, is touring the countryside and hunting on both public and private land.
I’m only a visitor, and on occasion I find myself envying the folks who make their living on the land in beautiful western North Dakota.
When out there, I can’t help but marvel at the stewardship of area producers and the sheer vastness of the land in production.
I realize there are many hardships for those who make a living on resources dependent on the weather and commodity prices that are too often out of their control, and receive pennies compared with what consumers pay at the supermarket for the end-of-the-line food products.
Still, I often wonder how many people our area producers feed, as I drive by what seems like countless acres of land, cattle and grain bins.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in the 1930s, the average American farm fed four people and, for the most part, that really was just those on the family farm.
Today, there are roughly 915 million acres of land in the U.S. These farms produce crops for more than 313 million people in the U.S., and export more than 50 types of agricultural products to the world.
The average American family farm in 2010 fed 155 people, thanks to 80 years of agricultural and bioscience innovation, and North Dakota farmers probably feed more.
American consumers are blessed to have such a cornucopia of food available, while too much of the world starves and some, even in our country, go to bed hungry.
Sadly, in some years, as much as 6 billion pounds of American-grown fruits and vegetables are left uneaten, either because demand for that fruit or vegetable is low, or because the fruits and vegetables themselves aren’t in model condition.
Tomatoes must be perfectly round and red, or we won’t buy them, and according to the National Resources Defense Council, even when the product does make it to the store, retailers throw away as much as 43 billion pounds of food from their shelves.
We have so much to be thankful for in America - family, friends, our form of government, freedom of speech, religion and the military that protect these rights.
One of the many things to remind myself of is to be thankful for the abundance of food on the table, in our country, and for those folks responsible.
Editor’s note: Brock is the publisher of The Dickinson (N.D.) Press. The Press and Agweek are owned by Forum Communications Co.
