Food Comes from Families Like Ours

By Chelsey Erdmann

If you’re looking for a face for “factory farming,” you can use mine.

Our farm is far from the biggest, yet has grown significantly since the first of our family members started a place six generations ago. This place feeds multiple families from multiple generations.

We’ve grown, diversified and adapted because a milk cow, 40 acres and a couple hogs don’t go nearly as far as they used to.

There are systems here, complex technology and protocols — all similar to those found in other businesses.

We work alongside employees, hire experts and outsource certain tasks. You’ll find a plethora of similarities between our business and a business that uses a factory.

You know what else you’ll find here?

A family. A family that’s devoted their days to continuing the legacy started long before us. A family that invests in our local community and provides jobs to community members. A family that takes pride in producing quality commodities.

Food comes from families. Families like ours.

I’m proud of the innovation agriculture has embraced over the last 100 years. Proud to see the improvements this community has discovered, integrated and shared.

Agriculture ain’t what it used to be. That doesn’t have to be bad or good. It can simply be.

We’re learning, evolving and growing, because so is the rest of the world.

Chelsey Erdmann is a Farm Bureau member in North Dakota and member of NDFB’s Promotion & Education Committee. This column was previously published on NDFB’s “On Your Table” blog.