Earth Day should be called Ag Day

Make Earth Day an ag day

Earth Day is April 22. This year will mark the 39th celebration of efforts to protect planet Earth. As in past years, there will be community events to plant trees in urban neighborhoods, clean up litter from roadsides and parks and other ways for the public to get involved in helping our environment. All of those efforts are positive ways for people to take an active role to protect our environment.

No doubt with all the attention to climate change, this year's celebrations will also include ways to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and to minimize our "carbon footprint."

As our understanding of climate change grows, we are also finding more ways that farmers and ranchers can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to renewable energy.

But some groups will unfortunately use Earth Day to promote a selfish agenda by attacking the honest efforts of agriculture. Read More

The best conservationist this country has is America’s farmers and ranchers. They have been making improvements to the land for several generations now and that is one reason that agriculture is so productive. Producers know their land, they know what will grow where and how well. The idea that someone or some organization knows how to manage your land better than you do will never make sense to me. Everyday is Earth Day when your livelihood depends on it.