31 Life On The Farm Quotes That Define The Essential Nature Of Farming

Farmers are underappreciated. Most people in modern society take it for granted that there will always be plenty of fresh produce, milk and dairy products and meats available at the local grocery, but it wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for farmers. The fact of the matter is…

“Farming is a matter of dirt and dung. It is not the kind of thing we look to (as a way of finding) the meaning of human life. It is too ordinary, too inescapably a part of life to be interesting. We know that it has to be done, but see no reason to pay much attention to it. But it is just because farming is inescapably a part of human life that it may provide a clue to what is most basically human, and so a clue to our place within the cosmos.” – Stephanie Nelson

We all need to either have or be farmers if we wish to survive and thrive. Here we present a collection of observations, resources and farming quotes that explain exactly why that is. Here are my favorite life on the farm quotes.

Farming Was The Start Of Civilization

“The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.” – Arthur Keith

Recent archaeological studies have found that farming activities may have begun as long as 23,000 years ago. The ability to cultivate crops and domesticate livestock allowed early humans to stop roaming about seeking food and exposing themselves to dangers. Instead, they could stay in one place, set down roots and establish a safe, secure and stable environment.

“Agriculture was the first occupation of man, and as it embraces the whole earth, it is the foundation of all other industries.” – Edward W. Stewart

“When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.” – Daniel Webster

Farming Is An Honorable Occupation

“My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.” – Brenda Schoepp

Farming is a career that underpins the development and stewardship of land, water and humanity for generations to come.

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will, in the end, contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” – Masanobu Fukuoka

Farming Brings Meaning To Life

“I like farming. It is a good life. After more than 30 years of it, I still would rather farm than do anything else.” — Secretary of Agriculture Claude R. Wickard, 1944

Many farmers feel that farming is more than a career. It is a calling. Lifelong farmers live and work following a set of principles commonly known as natural law. These are typically similar to the self-evident truths that are the basis of the preamble to the US Constitution, that all humans are right to strive for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are the qualities that give life meaning.

“Do what you love to do, and be around things that make you smile. The cows make me smile every day.” – David Jackson

“It feels good at the end of the day to know you made a product that other people are going to enjoy.” – Jericho Sanchez

“The farm is part of me.” – Erich Wehrenberg

Farming Is Creative

“We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist.” – Wendell Berry

To be a successful farmer, you must be resourceful, innovative and creative. You must be able to analyze unexpected situations and create positive solutions to problems using the resources you have at hand. These skills are the very heart and soul of creativity.

“No race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” – Booker T. Washington

“Agriculture is the noblest of all alchemy; for it turns earth, and even manure, into gold, conferring upon its cultivator the additional reward of health.” – Paul Chatfield

“Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures, since the productions of nature are the materials of art.” – Edward Gibbon

“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.” – Andy Warhol

Farming Is A Partnership With Nature

“If you tickle the earth with a hoe she laughs with a harvest.” – Douglas Jerrold

Wise farming practices support a healthy natural world, which in turn, supports successful farming.

“If you own a farm, it’s not like owning alphabet stocks. It’s a long-term play. We’ve realized if you’re going to keep in it, you’ve got to treat soil health, conservation and your environment.” – Joe Hickman Black Horse Flag Farm, Maryland

“The story of family farming underscores a legacy of sustainability.” – Amanda Zaluckyj

“Factory farming came about from a moral race to the bottom, with corporations vying against each other to produce more and bigger animals with less care at lower cost.” – Matthew Scully

“Farming isn’t a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they continue.” – Jeff Koehler

Farming Is The Backbone Of Civilization

“It is impossible to have a healthy and sound society without a proper respect for the soil.” – Peter Maurin

Successful agriculture is essential to human survival. Recently, archaeologists have found evidence that time-and-again civilizations have fallen when the needs and challenges of the agricultural sector of society have been neglected and/or when farming practices have become destructive and exploitative.

“Agriculture has become essential to life; the forest, the lake, and the ocean cannot sustain the increasing family of man; population declines with a declining cultivation, and nations have ceased to be with the extinction of their agriculture.” – Elias Hasket Derby

“Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.” – Samuel Johnson

Farming Builds Community

“Strong communities are built around local, real food. Food we trust to nourish our bodies, the farmer and planet.” – Kimbal Musk

Shared neighborhood gardens have always been a thing, and today more and more people are choosing to grow their own food and/or frequent their local farmers’ market rather than purchasing high-mileage produce, dairy products and meats from large grocery stores.

“I do think that there is a big difference between family farms and agri-business, and one of the distressing things that I think has occurred is with consolidation of farm lands. You’ve seen large agri-businesses benefit from enormous profits from existing farm programs, and I think we should be focusing most of those programs on those family farmers.” – President Barack Obama

“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

“I love the idea of farm to table and farmer’s markets. I enjoy a meal more if I know I’m eating something that’s good quality and good for me.” – Haylie Duff

Farming Is A Lifelong Challenge

“The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer.” – Will Rogers

“A farm is a manipulative creature. There is no such thing as finished. Work comes in a stream and has no end. There are only the things that must be done now and things that can be done later. The threat the farm has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can’t is this: do it now, or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die. Its blackmail, really.” – Kristin Kimball

Despite the long work hours, many challenges and hardships of farming, truly committed farmers keep at it for life – often for generations. It takes a proprietary combination of hardheadedness, creativity, devotion and optimism to succeed at this difficult, important, rewarding occupation.

“Farming is a profession of hope.” – Brett Brian

Agriculture Quotes – Best Quotes About Agriculture