It Honors Everyone

As we all realize, those in agriculture, and those who live in rural settings, tend not to toot their own horns – it’s just something that’s not done. Sure, we brag on the family, our favorite horse or dog, what a great buy we made, what the calves, bulls or lambs brought or how we did on the recent trip to Deadwood or Vegas, but we’re pretty quiet in talking about ourselves. That’s a good trait, and how we should act.
   But it’s different when it comes to family members or our neighbors in agriculture. We need to toot their horn if they have done something good, either in the short- or long-term. Honoring them before their peers in agriculture and the general public honors everyone in agriculture.
    Far too often these days, we in agriculture are beat up by the public, most of whom don’t even understand agriculture or raising livestock. Today it’s very easy to spread misinformation, or a public fear concerning food or how that food is processed, and the practices and processes that took place in getting that food on the table. The same can be said about the environment or the natural resources that agriculture lives with day in and day out. The public may not understand it, and they speak about the negatives of the issue without knowing the difference between a weed and a food plant, or why it’s there.
    We’re lucky in Wyoming; we have numerous avenues to honor those in agriculture. The Wyoming Wool Growers, Wyoming Stock Growers, Wyoming Farm Bureau, Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Society of Range Management, the various land trusts in the state and other organizations around the state all have awards for ranches, farms and ag businesses or the people associated with them. The national organizations represented by these state groups have many awards, also.
    Here in Wyoming we have had numerous national awards that are received by our ag citizens, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Environmental Stewardship Award is only one of many that honors the owners, managers and everyone involved in a ranch or farm, and the nation recognizes all ranching in Wyoming.
    As you know, here at the Roundup we also honor a person or couple each year with their induction into the Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame. This will be the 20th year the Roundup has been involved, since Del Tinsley started it as the AG Citizen of the Year Award. It is a great opportunity to honor someone or some couple for their dedication to agriculture or the state. The applications are due June 15, and you can download them off the Roundup website or give us a call. This award and others call attention to the good that agriculture does for our state, and we all know someone who deserves this honor. Send the applications to the Roundup, and we will then select three neutral people associated with Wyoming agriculture to rank the applications and send the ranking sheets back for us to add up; the two lowest scores are the awardees for the year. It the fairest way to do it, as the three judges don’t know who the other judges are. Help us to honor someone this year.
    Dennis