Julie Turner-Crawford – Why everyone should be interested in ag

Across the Fence

By Julie Turner-Crawford My job at Ozarks Farm & Neighbor allows me to do what I love most, write stories about farmers and ranchers, and talking about what they do on their farms. It’s pretty awesome, and I learn something new with every interview. When I worked at a small daily, the reporters under me cringed when I said the county fair was coming up or asJulie Turner-Crawford is a native of Dallas County, Mo., where she grew up on her family’s signed them a farm-related story. They didn’t believe our farm. She is a graduate readership was interested. I didn’t feel I could even send one of Missouri State reporter to the fairgrounds. He said was it was “not possible” University. To contact to take pictures at a hog show, and he tended to be on the Julie, call 1-866-532-1960 “anti” side of many of today’s farming practices. Another or by email at editor@ reporter told me he “didn’t like to get dirty.” ozarksfn.com.

Except for items made from metal, stone, and petroleum-based plastics, nearly everything we use has a relationship to the farm.

In 2019, 22.2 million full- and part-time jobs were related to the agricultural and food sectors – 10.9 percent of total U.S. employment, according to the USDA. Direct on-farm employment accounted for about 2.6 million jobs.

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Submitted by: The Spur Cross Ranch Cook, Pryor, Okla. Ingredients: • 1 C sliced almonds • 2 eggs • 3 C honey-flavored corn flakes (crushed) • 1/4 C milk • 1/2 tsp cinnamon • 1 Tbsp maple syrup • 1/2 tsp nutmeg • 1 tsp vanilla • 1/4 tsp salt • Cooking spray Directions: Cut four slices of whole grain bread into five sections each. Whisk eggs, milk, syrup and vanilla to combine. Spray a large skillet and preheat over medium heat. Dip the bread, one piece at a time, into the egg mixture, then dip into the crushed cornflakes. Place in the warm pan and cook until golden brown on all sides.

Blueberry Maple Syrup: 2 C fresh blueberries 1 Tbsp maple syrup 1 Tbsp orange juice Combine in a pan and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour into a blender, or use an immersion blender, and blend until almost smooth. Taste and add more maple syrup, if desired.

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Celebrating 30 years of Serving the Tri-State Area. Covered Pens SALE EVERY THURSDAY AT 10 A.M. Across the Fence Continued from Previous Page Great Service, Low Rates! Business Manager : Easy Unloading Cattle Received Wednesday & Thursday Comfortable Seating with Good Views of Sales Arena Hauling Available Think about your hometown; what jobs there are dependent on agriculture? Let’s start with an easy one – your local grocery store. Even if it’s a small mom and pop operation with 10 employees, that’s 10 people who wouldn’t have a job because there were no farmers to produce and harvest food Cody Vaughn 479-790-3432 to be sold to consumers. Without farmers, Offi ce Manager: there would be no restaurants or fast-food Listen Friday a.m. Cammy Whorton 479-524-2371 ext. 1 Field Representatives: Joe Simpson 918-207-7123 Travis Snyder 918-575-1133 Kevin Ruddick 479-790-9272 Cary Bartholomew 479-409-0133 Mitch Bartholomew 479-263-9302 Doug Isaacs 918-696-1558 places, companies to process the food, or truckers to deliver raw products from the farm or finished products to the store. Aside from food, there would be limited clothing options without farmers. Polyester/nylon pants would soon replace our always-popular denim jeans. For those around

KURM 790 Sale Barn Report! in the 1970s, it’s a fashion statement we all hope remains silent. Critics of the industry tend to forget there’s 3870 Highway 412 East, Siloam Springs, AR • 479-524-2371 www.bentoncountysalebarn.com more at stake in our world than just farmers and ranchers. According to the USDA, agriculture, food and related industries contributed $1.109 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019, a 5.2-percent

MASSEY FERGUSON share. The output of America’s farms contributed $136.1 billion of this sum – about

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Call today for a no-obligation demonstration enough to eventually see an old wooden door, at your home! Financing Available! slightly ajar, there on the north side of the old barn that makes up the south side of my cor-

6Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com 0.6 percent of GDP. The overall contribution of agriculture to GDP is larger than 0.6 percent because sectors related to agriculture rely on agricultural inputs to contribute added value to the economy.

Sectors related to agriculture include not only food and beverage manufacturing and food services, but textiles, apparel and leather products; and forestry and fishing.

Agriculture is the backbone of everything we do, and without it, it would only be a matter of time before the world as we know would cease to exist. The economy would tank in a matter of days, and people would starve to death; society would crumble.

My former staff may not have seen the need to cover agriculture in our newspaper, but we all should be interested in agriculture – unless you like being hungry, naked and unemployed.

ral. I’ve owned the place for almost 20 years and had never opened that door. I didn’t even know it could be opened, but the bull had licked the latch open and proceeded through a 3-foot wide hallway that connects to several old feed rooms, corn cribs and a milking parlor. I had used the south end of the hallway, to store stuff, including screen doors, wood trim, roof shingles, boxes of fruit jars, old wooden gates, and a 50-pound bag of Ag lime, which explained the white substance on the bull’s head and front end. Everything was completely demolished, to the point that it wouldn’t even make good kindling.

Where there’s a bull, there’s a way…….out.