Mike Rowe – A celebrity champion for agriculture
by Gene Hall
Celebrities don’t seem to like modern agriculture very much. Some speak out strongly, even attack the way we grow our food today. Some are eager to jump on the bandwagon of the week, endorsing the latest trendy food-related topic.
Most of this is harmless. Farmers will grow for whatever markets consumers support—organic, grassfed, local, slow food or whatever’s next. There is nothing wrong with any of that. The problem comes when the anti-agriculture propaganda machine suggests that the world can be fed that way. It can’t, unless legions of people are willing, once again, to personally take up the burden of growing their own food as their great-grandparents did.
Mike Rowe gets it. The creator, host and executive producer of the Discovery Channel’s Emmy-nominated series, Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, has worked as an apprentice on more than 250 jobs that a lot of people would not like to do. Many of these “dirty jobs” were on farms, working with farmers.
Rowe likes to say that everything we value in our culture comes from agriculture or mining. Think about it. It’s true. Every product sprouted from the root stock of those two industries. Rowe is all for “green,” but also talks about the power of “brown.” The soil is the source of life. The simplicity of his words contains a powerful message.
Rowe spoke to the 2009 convention of the FFA – once known as the Future Farmers of America. He detailed that experience on his website.
Of the experience, Rowe said, “The FFA has determined that most Americans think of farmers like those actors in Colonial Williamsburg – smiling caricatures from Hee Haw and Green Acres, laboring quaintly in flannel and denim. From what I’ve seen, they’re right. Over and over I hear the same thing from farmers I’ve met on Dirty Jobs. Technical advances in modern agriculture now rival those of Silicon Valley, and today’s farms are more efficient than ever, but no one seems to have gotten the memo. No one seems to care.”
As I said, Mike Rowe gets it. But how did this working man celebrity arrive at different conclusions than those of Pamela Anderson, Gwyneth Paltrow or Alicia Silverstone?
I have a theory. Rowe has actually worked those jobs, shoulder to shoulder with real farmers and ranchers. His view was not formed on the beaches of Southern California or in a Park Avenue apartment. He’s been there and done that. To me, it adds up to credibility.
Rowe will speak to the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention in Atlanta come January. I’m betting he will take the stage to thunderous applause from grateful farmers and ranchers. In our celebrity culture of today, it takes some courage to buck the trends. I like the show. Clever and original, it stands head and shoulders above the reality drivel that passes for entertainment these days. I like Mike Rowe even more.
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One Comment
Mike, I watch Dirty Jobs with interest. I have heard you speak at the FFa Convention and look forward to hearing your message at the upcoming AFBF Convention. I would appreciate you considering a little different spin on Dirty Jobs, where you could follow the raising of a commondity from seed to the supermarket shelf. In that process you and your audience will learn all the details associated with raising food. I am a third generation farmer from North Dakota, with the fourth generation now a part of the operation. We raise spring wheat, malting barley, pintobeans, black turtle beans, soybeans,and confection sunflowers. I also serve on the board of directors of a producer owned cooperative that is involved in energy, grain, and food, and is also a fortune 100 company. There are many dynamics and challenges that fall in line with dirty jobs that people would enjoy seeing you do. I know you have the ability to create something here that people will find interesting and learn something along the way. If you or your producers have an interest in this form of dirty jobs i could share much more detail to assist in my thought process. Thanks Mike!