National Agriculture Day was celebrated with a free breakfast at the Marion County Farm Bureau building in Salem on Tuesday.
Farm Bureau Manager Brad Conant says 221 either ate in or got breakfast to go.
“The 19 years doing our annual Ag Week Breakfast has always been a fun event to celebrate agriculture and its contribution to everything we do. Not only food but the clothes we wear. A good opportunity to give back to the community and have a free breakfast for the community on National Ag Day.”
One of the many volunteers was retired Farm Bureau Manager Gary Kennedy who was making the pancakes.
“We want to tell a little about what the farmers share the food dollar was. I think the first year we did it we actually charged like 35 cents to represent what the farmer’s share of the breakfast was. But since then we got away from that and made it free. Still the message, show what agriculture contributes to the whole economy and to the community.”
While Marion County was one of the first to hold an Ag Day breakfast to point out that the portion of the food bill went back to the farmer, many other counties have now duplicated the program.
Ag Day Breakfast crowd at the Marion County Farm Bureau Building. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
