How Farmers Keep the World Turning

No matter the state of our world, farmers are the ones that keep families fed and food on tables, shelves and menus.

The importance of farming is something that manages to touch every single person on the planet, whether they’re opening bags of bread, roasting vegetables for dinner or struggling to find food to eat. When you think about it, farmers are truly the cornerstone of the world we all live in. From cotton for our clothes to the harvesting of food that we eat, farmers are the ones who manage the logistics, the supply chains and the harvesting of the product that we need.

The world would be nothing like the world we know now without the farmers who devote their entire lives to everyone else. Even in crisis, farming still keeps on — and, because of this, we look towards a strengthened economy, nutritious plates and a home full of harvested products. In fact, according to The Economist, “the number of people who have too little to eat has fallen from 36% of the population to 11%.”

What do farmers provide to the world?

So much of the world we live in is dependent on the work of farmers, whether you’re looking at the obvious things like vegetable production to the less obvious things like honey production or cotton harvesting. When you break it down, it’s impossible to go a day without being even marginally touched by the impact of a farmer. In fact, “in the next 30 years supply needs to rise by about 50% to meet the needs of a wealthier, growing population, even as the system’s carbon footprint needs at least to halve.”

From cattle and strawberries to dairy and soybeans, the product produced and harvested in the world’s farms has an impact that reaches far and wide. The world is dotted by almost 600 million farms, which amounts for an untold number of people who work day after day to produce products for the world that we all share. By producing everything from crops to meat to be shared among countries and continents, farming stakes its claim as one of the most vital pieces of the world economy.

How has farming been affected by the current global COVID-19 crisis?

American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall put it into perfect words when he said that “empty shelves can be frightening, but empty fields and barns would be devastating.” Just like the world has kept on turning during the pandemic, farmers have kept on farming. Truly, there is no other option. However, farmers have not been immune to the impacts of the pandemic, and they’ve been looking for ways to ensure that the supply chain isn’t disrupted. The way farmers see it, there’s nothing more important than providing food and materials for the people that need them. At the same time, “as the economy shrinks and incomes collapse, the number of people facing acute food shortages could rise—from 1.7% of the world’s population to 3.4%, the UN reckons, including in some rich countries.”

Farmers have continued to show up and discover unique solutions for the times we’re living in, whether that involves working with the grocery stores and restaurants they supply crops for or by implementing procedures within their own workforces to ensure safety and health for everyone involved.

How can we enable farmers to do more?

At Pro Grain Equipment, we spend all of our time looking for ways to make the lives of farmers and labourers easier, more efficient and more effective. In many ways, old-school farming techniques are still great. After all, farmers still use things like irrigation that were discovered long before any of us were even a thought in the world. However, things like traditional grain storage methods are not always the best option for the world’s farmers.

By implementing things like grain bagging into their day-to-day operations, farmers are able to lower labour costs, store their crops with more flexibility and keep harvest moving without worrying about things like lineups at grain elevators, low commodity prices, or weather that can destroy their crops. Grain bagging offers an option for farmers that allows them to spend less time worrying about storage options and more time optimizing their crop. With grain bagging, farmers are able to store directly on the field in bags built to withstand weather and speed up harvest. Being able to store directly on their fields is a huge game changer for farmers, allowing them to reduce labour costs and maximize their crops.

The truth of the matter is, none of us would be where we are today without the farmers who have devoted their lives to keeping the world fed and supplied with what we need. We’re so thankful to the people who spend their days optimizing the supply chain and prioritizing the people. By offering flexible storage solutions to the world’s farmers, we’re able to do our own small part in thanking the farmers who do so much for us.