Each American farmer feeds more than 165 people — an incredible feat of continuous improvement — but consumers want to know more about the facts and folks behind this food. National Ag Day, observed each March, is a nationwide effort to answer these questions and recognize the invaluable contributions of farmers.
To help celebrate National Ag Day on March 23, Kansas Wheat joined nine other Kansas agricultural organizations this week to pack 250 crates full of tasty food, fun activities and handy kitchen supplies for Kansas families.
“We worked with the Kansas Farm Food Connection to put together a special crate of amazing food, activities and more to help Kansas families celebrate National Ag Day,” said Marsha Boswell, Kansas Wheat vice president of communications. “We hand-selected a variety of goodies from not only the wheat industry but also pork, beef, dairy, cotton, grain sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, Nutrients for Life and Kansas Farm Bureau. There’s plenty of love from farmers and fun for the whole family packed inside each box.”
Building on the success of last summer’s Wheat State Crate, Kansas Wheat worked with the other members of the Kansas Farm Food Connection to put together a box of educational materials and hands-on activities that are now on their way to Kansas families. Kansas Wheat provided bags of Hudson Cream Flour and a bowl scraper, while other groups provided recipes, food samples, STEM activities, kitchen supplies and other fun promotional items.
To sign up for the crate, interested people had to watch videos related to Kansas agriculture and answer questions. Kyler Millershaski, a wheat farmer from Lakin and vice president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, was featured on the site. Watch his farming story at https://vimeo.com/418597996.
Those who missed out on the crate still received videos and materials via e-mail so that they could still learn and enjoy Kansas agriculture. All were invited to “cook along,” making pizza using homemade pizza dough made with Hudson Cream Flour, with Kansas ranchers Arturo and Wrenn Pacheco and their kids via video. (https://youtu.be/SNmZWKIxCws) The Pacheco family also shared their favorite Kansas wheat facts, including that Kansas grows enough wheat each year to make 38 billion loaves of bread. That’s enough to feed everyone in the world for two weeks.
The Kansas Farm Food Connection is a joint effort of 10 Kansas ag organizations to serve as a consumer resource for anything and everything related to food and agriculture. Through promotional activities and a shared website — https://kansasfarmfoodconnection.org/ — the groups provide information on how agriculture puts food on the table, fuel in vehicles and provides fiber for clothes. The site also features stories from Kansas farmers about how and why they farm the way they do.
“National Ag Day is about celebrating how agriculture contributes to our lives each and every day,” Boswell said. “We are proud to work together through the Kansas Farm Food Connection to share the story of how Kansas farmers play an essential role in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.”
Learn more about the Kansas Farm Food Connection at https://kansasfarmfoodconnection.org.
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Written by Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat
Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]
For audio version, visit kansaswheat.org.
