Download the Program Book (pdf) - Warren County Farmers Fair

Winning Essay by 2012 Fair Queen & 2013 New Jersey
Agricultural Fair Ambassador, Anna Mathews
When people think of agriculture,
they often think of it as a
business or trade—corn and soybeans,
cows and horses, or the
latest model of tractor. It is physical,
the proverbial “plant, animal
or mineral,” and nothing
more. But, when I think of agriculture
I think of my friends in 4-
H and FFA trotting around the
fairground arena on their horses
or exhibiting their calves in the
livestock barn. I think of stacking
hay bales in the heat of summer
with my family or driving
behind my neighbor’s tractor,
going twenty miles an hour
down our county road. No matter who you are, living in a place
that is defined by agriculture will lend similar experiences. To me,
these experiences are the face of agriculture.
Growing up in Warren County on my family’s hay
and livestock farm, I have been a part of this community
for as long as I can remember. My family has
been a member of the agricultural community in
Warren County for over eighty years. When my greatgrandfather
settled in White Township, New Jersey,
he farmed everything from vegetables to dairy cows.
Through four generations of farming, the love of agriculture
is still deeply embedded in the heart and soul
of my family. Since I was nine, I have been doing my
part to continue this legacy by helping out on the
farm every summer and by exhibiting my horses and
rabbits at the county fair. I joined 4-H when I was
seven and spent the last twelve years participating in
events like Horse Bowl, Hippology and Horse
Judging. I learned to swallow my fear of speaking
through presentations at my county extension office,
responsibility by caring for my animals during fair
week, and the value of hard work by spending entire
days stacking hay bales in a hot barn.
All of this leads me to believe that there is more
to agriculture than what is materially tangible.
Agriculture is more than growing corn or feeding livestock;
it’s a mindset, a lifestyle, an inexplicable part
of what it means to be human. It is why my family and
I are proud to call ourselves farmers. It is why people
who have lived in suburbia all of their lives still refer,
with pride, to themselves as citizens of “the Garden
State.” Here in New Jersey we have many different
kinds of people; suburbanites and log-cabin dwellers,
equestrians and dairy farmers, republicans and
democrats. And it is why, even though not all of us are
“real-life” farmers, we come out every year to our
county fairs to see the fruits of another year of hard
work. We do this because we are agriculturalists at
heart. We have all smelled the cow manure while driving
with the windows down. We have woken up at five
53
o’clock in the morning to care for a sick animal, and we have
picked sun-ripened raspberries off the bushes in our backyards.
I go to college in New York City now, a place that no one
would ever connect with agriculture, yet I see it everywhere I
go: in the window boxes, in the greenhouse rooftops, and on the
sidewalks where people grow squash in light pole gardens.
Agriculture is everywhere, not just on the farm. It is the common
thread that ties us into a community of people that stretches
across property, county, state, and national lines.
Agriculture is an absolutely certain and inescapable part of
what it means to be human. It is food for the soul.
Agriculture is many things, including corn and soybeans,
but agriculture is also about people. It forms the foundation for
the best kind of community, by teaching us to have strong character,
good morals, and to value the ethic of hard work. It forms
a bond between people of all ages, ethnicities, and lifestyles,
and keeps that bond strong through drought and storm.
Agriculture is what my New Jersey community is built on, and
agriculture is what will keep it going strong.
†
$6,299
Model: 5901214
Frank Rymon & Sons, Inc.
STOP BY OUR SHOWROOM
8 am to 5 pm – Monday – Friday • 8 am to 1 pm – Saturday
399 Route 31 South, Washington, NJ 07882
www.rymons.com • 1-908-689-1464
Stop by and see our display at the Warren County Farmers’ Fair
and check for special financing offers.