As Americans, we have celebrated National Agriculture Day for 40 years, but in Indiana we make it a point to extend this celebration for a month. This year, Gov. Mike Pence has declared March as Agriculture Appreciation Month in Indiana.

Indiana is well known for its corn, soybean, wheat, livestock and forestry industries. In fact, these industries bring in $25 billion a year, employ 16 percent of our workforce and cover more than 14.5 million acres.

Indiana’s Family of Farmers is a coalition of ag-related organizations that is sponsoring several events to kick-off Agriculture Appreciation Month. One that I am especially pleased to see again is the Ag Essay Contest, which encourages students to learn about and explore important agriculture concepts, such as how to nourish our families, animals and soil.

We must continue to encourage our young Hoosiers to learn about the industry that is such a fundamental part of our culture and economy.

Through successfully managing farms, raising livestock, harvesting crops and producing dairy goods, Indiana proudly ranks among the top states in agriculture sales.

Did you know? Indiana…

• ranks 10^th in the country for agriculture product sales;
• has roughly 62,000 farms across the state with an average size of 237 acres;
• raises 860,000 cattle and calves, 3,850,000 hogs and pigs and 55,000 sheep; and
• produces around 3.5 billion pounds of milk from its 172,000 milk cows.

The month of March will be a time to appreciate our farming success, as well as an opportunity for our leaders in the industry to look toward the future. Throughout Indiana’s history, much about our state has changed. However, the significance of agriculture will always remain.

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