quotations about agriculture
The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
attributed, Whispers from the Farm
Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
speech at Chicago Convention, Jul. 8, 1896
Agriculture was the first occupation of man, and as it embraces the whole earth, it is the foundation of all other industries.
E. W. STEWART
attributed, Day's Collacon
Educating youth about -- and instilling an interest in -- agriculture is about more than looking at a number on a budget line. It is about recognizing an investment in the state's future.
EDITOR
"Ag education is an investment, should be spared", Jacksonville Journal-Courier, March 8, 2016
In undertaking farming we undertake a responsibility covering the whole life cycle. We can break it or keep it whole.
LORD NORTHBOURNE
Look to the Land
A fertile soil alone does not carry agriculture to perfection.
E. H. DERBY
"A Defence of Agriculture", Lessons in Modern Farming
An agricultural life is one eminently calculated for human happiness and human virtue.
C. L. ALLEN
"A Few Thoughts for Young Farmers", The Market Garden, 1894
For we must farm or die.
LORD NORTHBOURNE
Look to the Land
The farmers who succeed are the ones who are going to incorporate new technologies.
STAN BLADE
"Agriculture industry betting the farm on innovation to boost yields, profits", CBC News, February 10, 2016
Agriculture is the greatest and fundamentally the most important of our industries. The cities are but the branches of the tree of national life, the roots of which go deeply into the land. We all flourish or decline with the farmer.
BERNARD BARUCH
attributed, American Agriculture: A Brief History
Agriculture seems to be the first pursuit of civilized man. It enables him to escape from the life of the savage, and wandering shepherd, into that of social man, gathered into fixed communities and surrounding himself with the comforts and blessings of neighborhood, country, and home. It is agriculture alone, that fixes men in stationary dwellings, in villages, in towns, and cities, and enables the work of civilizations, in all its branches, to go on.
EDWARD EVERETT
address delivered at Brighton before the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, Oct. 16, 1833
Agriculture is civilization.
E. EMMONS
attributed, Day's Collacon
The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
"Farming", Society and Solitude
Agricultural growth is a proven driver of poverty reduction. When agriculture stimulates growth ... the growth is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth based in other sectors.
GIZA MDOE
"How climate-smart agriculture is saving, revitalising the sector", IPP Media, March 2, 2016
Agriculture for an honorable and high-minded man, is the best of all occupations and arts by which men procure the means of living.
XENOPHON
attributed, Day's Collacon
Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?
JANE GOODALL
Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating
No race can prosper till it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Atlanta Exposition, Sep. 18, 1895
Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the corn field.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
speech in Peoria, Illinois, Sep. 25, 1956
I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter, Jul. 20, 1794
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
MASANOBU FUKUOKA
The One-Straw Revolution