Beck’s Hybrids is a seed company that serves much of the Midwest, plus Kentucky and Tennessee. I’ve seen their signs at the sides of fields as I’ve driven around the Midwest, doing research for various books. But it was on YouTube that I really came to love them. A few years ago, they started a series of videos titled “Why I Farm,” featuring farmers in the region they cover—they actually sent someone out on the road to do interviews and record images—and the videos are wonderful. They are remarkably well made, with beautiful images and heartwarming stories of families who have been on the land for many generations, making sure the rest of us have enough to eat. Thought I’d share a couple here, but then you can just go to YouTube, search for Why I Farm, and see some of the others. I’m grateful to Beck’s for their having made these videos. We need to know farmers and appreciate them. And for what it’s worth, my experience with farmers as I’ve traveled around the region matches what is shown in these videos—solid, hard-working, loving, generous, open, creative, smart, God-fearing people who see themselves as stewards of the land and cherish what they do. Perhaps it is my own experience with farmers that makes these videos resonate. But I’m hoping they’ll appeal to others, as well.
Of the two I picked, the first one is very short, just to get you started—you can pick longer ones if you enjoy these as much as I do. The second one I included because it’s fun—a seventh-generation farm family that also makes great music, in this case, a song they wrote as response to the Why I Farm project. Because farmers can do a lot more than till the soil. Oh—and all the photos they show in the music video are from the family of those who are singing. Because they are real farmers.
Midwest Maize 