By Zach Weigel
For those of you who ventured over to Kinnick Stadium on Oct. 22 to watch your Hawkeyes take on the Badgers, you may be aware that the game served as the annual “ANF” or America Needs Farmers game. For the rest of you, let this serve as a public service announcement as to why America needs farmers.
Back in 1985, during the midst of a national farm crisis, legendary former Iowa coach Hayden Fry came up with the idea to recognize farmers with a small logo to be worn on his team’s helmets. Knowing that there were about 120,000 family farms in Iowa, Fry felt compelled to raise the prominence of the tough time farmers were facing due to collapsing land and commodity prices.
What is more, 1985 was not just any season for the Hawkeyes. It was one of the best seasons in Iowa history as the Hawks reached the No. 1 ranking in the nation on their way to winning the Big Ten Championship and receiving a Rose Bowl bid. Needless to say, the Iowa football team was in the national spotlight, which led to Fry’s seemingly trivial incarnation of the ANF to become not all that insignificant.
The importance of farming didn’t diminish after the historic 1985 season, though, and neither did ANF. In fact, one can argue that America’s need for farmers has only grown stronger as time has gone on. To boot, the strength of the ANF campaign has also increased in scope through merchandising and a partnership with the Iowa Farm Bureau.
Although today Iowa is home to fewer family farms as more efficient farming practices have driven many out of the business, there is no denying that farming is very much an integral part of the Iowa economy and the Iowa way of life. According to 2015 rankings from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Iowa has the third most farms of any state in the nation and ranks first in the nation in corn, pork, and egg production while placing second in soybeans and beef. Moreover, trailing only California and Texas, agriculture accounts for more than 5 percent of Iowa’s GDP.
It goes without saying that agriculture is important to Iowa, but how important are Iowa’s farming contributions to the nation? If you subtract Iowa’s 88,000 farms and 30,000,000 acres of farmland, you would be taking away an agricultural powerhouse responsible for 16 percent of the country’s corn and 12 percent of the country’s soybeans.
Now, if you have not seen the eye-opening documentary King Corn, I invite you to give the film a watch. It chronicles two unassuming east-coasters who discover just how important corn is to the American way of life. Not only is corn used for livestock feed and ethanol. High-fructose corn syrup finds its way into many food products while traces of corn can be found in items such as toothpaste, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals among other things.
Thus, America really does need farmers for more than just economical reasons. Most notably farmers feed the nation; however the effects of farming extend far beyond just the agricultural domain. And given the interconnected, globalized world that we live in today, the fruits farming bears extend far beyond our national borders. Perhaps it would be more apt to say the world needs farmers, not just that America needs farmers.
So kudos to Fry for raising awareness of farmers and their plight in the 1980s and kudos to the football program for continuing the tradition of recognizing the importance of farmers. And next time you see a farmer, consider thanking them because Iowa needs farmers, America needs farmers, and the world needs farmers.