[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15850]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          NATIONAL FARMERS DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Abraham) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize America's farmers 
on National Farmers Day.
  I call our American farmers the thin green line because food security 
is national security. We can never discount the importance of our 
Nation's ability to feed itself, and we can do so only by the hard work 
of the men and women in the agricultural community.
  In honor of National Farmers Day, I wanted to recite a poem first 
delivered by a radio personality, Paul Harvey, to the FFA Convention in 
1978. The poem is as follows:

       And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise 
     and said, ``I need a caretaker,'' so God made a farmer. God 
     said, ``I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk 
     cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat 
     supper, then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting 
     of the school board,'' so God made a farmer.
       ``I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf 
     and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild; somebody 
     to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, 
     have to wait for lunch until his wife is done feeding visit 
     ladies, then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real 
     soon, and mean it,'' so God made a farmer.
       God said, ``I need somebody willing to sit up all night 
     with a newborn colt, and watch it die, and then dry his eyes 
     and say, `Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an 
     ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk 
     of car tire, who can make a harness out of haywire, feed 
     sacks, and shoe straps; who, planting time comes and harvest 
     season, will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon, and 
     then paining from tractor back, put in another 72 hours,'' so 
     God made a farmer.
       God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double 
     speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds, and yet 
     stop in midfield and race to help when he sees the first 
     smoke from a neighbor's place, so God made a farmer.
       God said, ``I need somebody strong enough to clear trees 
     and heave bales, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean 
     pigs and tend to the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his 
     mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow 
     lark.''
       It had to be somebody who would plow deep and straight and 
     not cut corners; somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed, and 
     rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and 
     strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a 
     hard week's work with a 5-mile drive to church; somebody who 
     would bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of 
     sharing, who would laugh, and then sigh, and then reply, with 
     smiling eyes, when his son says that he wants to spend his 
     life ``doing what dad does,'' so God made a farmer.

                          ____________________