These are challenging and frightening times. The COVID-19 pandemic calls for agriculture to offer our neighbors reassurance about the stability of their food supply. You may consider it logical that agriculture is a “critical infrastructure” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (and most governments around the world), but keep in mind that 98% of the population doesn’t live on a farm or ranch.

Our food remains abundant and safe because of the commitment of our producers, processors, distributors, retailers – and all the employees involved in the food system, from train operators to truck drivers to grocery clerks. Farmers – and the thousands of people working in agriculture – grow food despite sickness, low profit margins, severe drought, floods, over-regulations, and constant questioning. Agriculture will continue ensuring that food is available because our work is not just a job or a business, but a calling.

Farmers have faced economic uncertainty over and over, most recently enduring a recession that has resulted in an all-time high of $416 billion in farm debt. More than half of all farmers have lost money every year since 2013. I have watched friend after friend lose their family business. Mother Nature has thrown so many curve balls that farming and ranching have felt like a game of dodge ball in recent years. Trade issues have added to negative market swings akin to the NYSE in March 2020. This combination of stressors has left farmers and ranchers with a suicide rate more than two times the national average.

If any segment of the population can empathize with economic uncertainty and recession fears, it is agriculture. However, NOW is the time that agriculture needs to demonstrate the courage and resiliency to endure this crisis. It’s not about looking for thanks or any #thankafarmer campaign. After all, food producers are just doing our jobs (just like those in healthcare, truckers, train operators, grocery store workers, et. al).

Demonstrating courage and resiliency is about reassurance and setting an example of needed skills. Common sense. Scientific understanding. Problem-solving. Work until the work is done. Help those in need. Learn. These are skills used on farms and ranches every day. They’re the same skills to bring to the table during a pandemic, rather than “well, now maybe people will appreciate where their food comes from” in response to shoppers finding empty grocery shelves.

Instead, how about building confidence using the skills we employ every day in agriculture?

• Common sense: Show how food is still being produced and provide reassurance of the food system.  Just because you understand how a product goes from your farm to processor to manufacturer to retailer does not mean the majority of the population does. For example, NMPF explains how milk production continues at a steady pace. How can you reassure people, with common sense messages, that their food supply is safe and stable?

• Scientific understanding: You deal with disease, viruses, and bacteria daily. The general population doesn’t. You look for evidence, whereas many food decisions are made on emotion. Provide easy-to-understand ways to help consumers understand the science behind the novel coronavirus – without intellectual judgment. Now is the time when people are the most likely to embrace science. What can you do to make science make sense? Alton Brown offers a phenomenal example of hand washing and the science of why (and yes, statistics show this is still NEEDED).

• Problem-solving: No single entity has the answer to this pandemic. Like fixing a tractor and diagnosing a sick animal, it takes more than one head, and we may not get it right on the first try, but make progress in incremental steps. Help people find a solution to short-term problems. For example: recipes to help new cooks, ideas for learning from virtual farm tours while the kids are trapped at home, articles about how healthy eating builds our immune systems, help teachers know where to turn for online curriculum, why food isn’t infected with the novel Coronavirus, how to leave food on grocery shelves for WIC, etc. For example, Illinois Ag in the Classroom put out this video to help with embryology lessons during e-learning. Who can you collaborate with to provide assurance and answer questions?

• Work until the work is done: Some sense of normalcy is achieved when humans see other humans being productive. You may think your day is mundane, but consider what it looks like to the newly unemployed dad in the suburbs facing a month of newfound home schooling, or the mom who can’t feed her toddlers. Share the work of planting on Facebook. The joy of newborn animals on Instagram. Funny social distancing stories from the rural perspective. Be very specific in how you are working to provide safe food and WHY – your farming practices are likely far more interesting than you believe. Your work now isn’t just about agriculture, it’s about the people you are feeding. Are you working hard enough to include them in your work? For example, this hog farmer shows why biosecurity matters to her piglets and that they’ve been practicing social distancing for years.

• Help those in need. I predict food insecurity is going to be at an all-time high. Be sure people know where to turn to get food, identify local resources for those in your area, consider where agricultural organizations can collaborate to ensure there are no hiccups in food distribution, work with legislators to prevent regulations that increase food costs, share stories of how hoarding hurts people, take a meal to the elderly, or consider how you can donate. Our family went and put together 200 meals at the local Boys & Girls Club one evening – and it felt so nice to help. Indiana Dairy is making milk available to the food insecure, with more than 500 gallons distributed on the first day. What can you do?

Friends in agriculture, let’s reassure our neighbors that they can rely on a safe, stable food system. Show compassion in the face of fear. Demonstrate resiliency by talking about how you work through the very real struggles agriculture faces. Connect on a human level. Help build confidence in the food system.

Now is the time, like none other in our lifetimes, to offer hope.