Remember the unlimited tools of creativity at your disposal as a child? Whether “skiing” through the barnyards, using the haymow as a trampoline or digging tunnels through the snow, farm kids have a wide array of “toys” to stimulate their imagination. Most adults don’t take the time to remember the lessons of their childhood games, particularly with all of the worries in agriculture today.

When was the last time you thought about the creative tools you still have at your disposal on the farm? My audiences typically gasp in disbelief when I ask them to build bridges from graham crackers and licorice. However, they always exceed their own expectations when they work as a group with a specific focus that allows them to maximize on their unique resources.

Why not apply the same principle in getting creative with bridges for agriculture? You do have resources in the agrifood business that can be used to build bridges to a variety of target audiences. Whether your target audience is teachers, consumers, or politicians…look for creative tools you can use to help them better understand the business of agriculture. Perhaps it’s providing the local school with a garden plot, getting the local congressman on your tractor with GPS, or taking the time to give a tour to show how sanitary a milking parlor can be…don’t take your ‘toy box’ on the farm for granted!

While you are actively engaged in building your bridge, it’s important to support it with facts. Here are a few to add to your arsenal:

• U.S. consumers would experience an average $225 increase in annual food costs/person without the science that has expanded our food production.
• Agriculture is the nation’s largest employer with 25% of all U.S. citizens involved in the food, fiber, and natural resources industry.
• Farm outputs need to triple by 2025 to feed the growing world population, expected to be around 8 billion people.
• Nearly half of the 40,000 people who die daily from malnutrition are infants and children.

Building bridges for agriculture can involve the facts, everyday tools on your farm or crazy items like graham crackers. It’s up to you to realize that your toy box STILL DOES OFFER UNLIMITED TOOLS OF CREATIVITY. Now you just have to go look for them!