I felt it this morning and I’m sure you can start to feel it to. We can see it changing the nature around us. The air is a little crisper, the once hot wind is now developing into a mellow, chilling breeze and the trees, much like the season, are transforming. What once were broad, green leaves that shined in the rays of the sun are transforming into the beautiful hues of yellow, red, and orange. They almost fly through the air as they cascade from the limb where they once grew, shaken from their home by the oncoming gusts of autumn. Many of you are excited for pumpkin pies or lattes, sweaters and bonfires but I am excited for a different reason.

With the heat cooling off, farmers are in their last stages of preparing for one of the busiest times of the year:

Harvest Time.

Believe it or not, but American Agriculture supplies 40% of the world’s agriculture needs. They are producing more commodities on less land. The number of farms and ranches that operate in our country only account for 2% of the United States’ population*, but our farmers are not letting that stop them. This means that our dedicated farmers are working 24/7, 365 days a year to provide for people they will never even meet. In order to keep up with this demand they have to leave their families for hours a day to go tend the fields, manage the livestock and help feed the world. If you live in a rural community, or find yourself blessed with the opportunity to drive through one, take a moment to be thankful and pray for our farmers.

Your chance to be thankful may present itself in the shape of a piece of machinery, that you can see, hear and smell the years of damage and hard work on it from a mile away. Dust, dirt mud and more than likely some blood cover the gears and mechanisms that make it run but on the top of it you can see them, always there with a hat and look of dedication and concentration on their face. The men and women whose blood is on the side of that equipment is having it chug along down the road, on to the next field that needs to be plowed or delivering the most recent load of product to the warehouse.

Whether you are running late or just cruising, instead of speeding by and honking at the driver just take a minute and watch. You will begin to notice how the driver looks, worn down, and much like the machine they are driving, years of hard work, late nights and early mornings are clear across their face. I say all of this in the hopes that the next time you see a farmer you thank them for all that they do, because even though they help feed the world they hardly get recognized for it.

As you’re sitting around the bonfire laughing and making memories, remember the hard working men and women who work day in and day out to make those nights possible.

It’s Harvest Time and I hope you’re ready for it.

*Information found at the American Farm Bureau Federation website. http://www.fb.org/newsroom/fastfacts/