A few examples of the ag community coming together to support its neighbors
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
American farmers recently raised money for families in need.
Farmers in the Quad Cities region helped raise money for the River Bend Food Bank in Davenport, Iowa as part of the Bushels for Hunger program.
The program, now in its 12th year, is a collaboration between producers, grain elevators and ethanol plants.
Farmers bring harvested grain to elevators and are given the opportunity to donate to Bushels for Hunger. If a farmer chooses to do so, once the donated grain is sold the proceeds are given to the food bank.
With the $22,515 raised in 2021, total contributions to the program surpass $277,000. This is equal to about 1.3 million meals.
"We feel blessed in what we do and providing food and fiber for the communities and for our jobs, but it's great to be able to support the local efforts and provide for the people that need food," Jeff Kirwan, a district director with the Illinois Farm Bureau, told WQAD8.
In Utah, farmers there are helping provide free food to more than 600 families in the state and Camp Williams, home of the Utah National Guard.
This is part of the Utah Farm Bureau’s Miracle of Agriculture Foundation and the Feeding Utah program. The Miracle of Ag Foundation provides food to military families in need.
“It’s sad that these great military families are protecting our freedoms and sacrificing for us, and yet they struggle with the everyday real concern of feeding their own families,” Ron Gibson, president of the Utah Farm Bureau, said in a statement.
About 160,000 military families nationwide experience food insecurity
More acts of kindness came from the equestrian community in Nebraska.
In Douglas County, Neb., a barn fire at Heartland Farms destroyed the structure and took the lives of nine horses and one person.
Since then, the Omaha Equestrian Foundation has set up a fundraiser to help the family rebuild and move forward.
“Everyone here has come together and is doing everything they can to take care of the hoses that were pulled from the fire,” Dannee Urban a trainer at a local farm, told WOWT. “They are trying to do what they can to take care of the horses that are still at the farm and support the family in any way that we possibly can.”