According to Rob Sand spokesman Andrew Turner, Iowa’s family farmers don’t really exist anymore. Our ag roots are now, in Andrew’s words, nothing more than “a nostalgic sense of pride thing.”
During the Presidential debate Thursday night, Andrew turned to Twitter (where his boss spends most of his time) to tell Iowans that farming is just “a nostalgic sense of pride thing” because, according to Andrew, “not that many people still have family farms.”
The response was less than positive.
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Julie Kenny echoed the feeling of many Iowans, saying:
Probably not wise to say to the thousands of Iowa farm families managing through a historic drought, derecho and pandemic. Oh, and the 20% of Iowans with a job tied to agriculture
— Julie Kenney (@JulieKenneyIA) October 23, 2020
According to the Iowa Corn Growers Association:
There is a popular myth out there that today’s modern food production system is being run by corporations or industrialized agriculture. But, the truth is that much of our food is grown and raised on farms by families. Iowa has roughly 88,000 farms and 129,000 farm operators. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 Census of Agriculture, more than 97 percent of Iowa farms are owned by families.
Thanks, Andrew, for showing your ignorance and spreading the myth. Next time your skateboarding boss is wearing a Carhartt jacket, ask him if it’s for nostalgic reasons or if he plans on doing real work today.
