Since the 1800s, National Farmers’ Days have been celebrated throughout the United States. Today is one of those National Day Calendar events, reminding us that we sure would be hungry if it wasn’t for the farmer!
According to Farm Producer Data, “The American farmer population is steadily shrinking. In 2025, the U.S. has just under 2 million farms, a sharp decline from the 6.8 million farms recorded in the 1930s. However, farm sizes are growing, and so is productivity.”1
“The Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that “there are 3.4 million agricultural “producers,” or the farmers and workers involved in making decisions from planting to harvesting to marketing on these farms. Among them, 63.7% of are male, 63.2% are ages 55 or older… and 84.7% work on family-held farms. More than 1.9 million farms dot the nation, covering 880.1 million acres. That’s more than twice the size of Alaska.”2
Nationwide, the top crops produced seem to be a snapshot of NW Ohio. Corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay/alfalfa are the top four produced crops nationwide. The Midwest is also known for livestock farming while the south is known for poultry, and the west for their dairy cows.3
I don’t know what it would take to incentivize careers in farming. What I do know is that we need the American farmer. Today, let’s celebrate them and thank a farmer for their work and dedication to a difficult job.
Farming of some sort might be the oldest profession. Many Bible characters either raised crops or animals. And the Bible is rich in using farming metaphors to convey spiritual truths. Hosea 10:12 says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”
Fallow ground was land that hadn’t been plowed in over a year. Seed that is sown on fallow ground cannot penetrate and send their roots deep. When hearts have grown fallow, the Word of God is unable to penetrate and take root. To keep hearts from getting that way, we need to seek the Lord on a daily basis, keeping our hearts open and tender to His leading.
Israel had a tendency to get hard against the Lord. God sent a spiritual farmer named Jeremiah to deliver them a message. “If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. (2) And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. (3) For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.” (Jeremiah 4:1-3)
Hard ground must be tilled before it can be planted. Once it is ready, we have to carefully plant the crop. Galatians 6:7-8 uses this farming motif to teach a point. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
On this National Farmer Day, let’s thank God for the farmer but remember that we are all farmers in our lives. Eventually, there will be a harvest of whatever we planted. Will we be glad for the crop?
James 3:18 says, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
1https://www.farmproducerdata.com/post/u-s-farmer-population-by-crop-what-america-s-farmers-grow-in-2025
2https://usafacts.org/articles/farmer-demographics/
3https://www.farmproducerdata.com/post/u-s-farmer-population-by-crop-what-america-s-farmers-grow-in-2025
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
