National Ag Day is March 18, 2025

March 18 is National Ag Day – a day to celebrate the less than two percent of the population who provide food, fiber and fuel to all of us. Agriculture is no doubt our most important industry and National Ag Day is a chance for us to recognize and show our appreciation for all farmers do.

American agriculture is the foundation of our country. It’s the backbone of a healthy and prosperous nation, made possible by the hard work of America’s farms and farm families. These individuals have been essential since the very beginning. Just like everyone, the past few years have presented many challenges, but thankfully, farmers have continued steadfastly toward ensuring we have food on our tables and clothes on our backs. That’s why, this year especially, National Ag Day is celebrated as a chance to honor those who deserve to be praised every day for what they do.

“So God Made a Farmer” was a speech given by radio broadcaster Paul Harvey at the 1978 Future Farmers of America convention. The speech was given as an extension of the Genesis creation narrative referring to God's actions on the 8th day of creation. Harvey described the characteristics of a farmer in each phrase, ending them with the recurring “So God Made a Farmer.” The speech was used in a commercial by Ram Trucks during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVII The ad featured photographs of rural America set to a narration of a portion of Harvey's speech. Below is the text of Harvey’s speech, which millions have heard and should remember, especially on National Ag Day.

And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours.” So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bales, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.

“Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'” So God made a farmer. – Paul Harvey

On National Ag Day, or on any other day, thank a farmer.