Agriculture's Place At The Holiday Feast

If there's one holiday where everyone's focus is on the food, it's Thanksgiving. This is the perfect time to reflect on where our food comes from. The turkey's provenance: Did it come from Minnesota? Were North Carolina farms responsible for those sweet potatoes? Did the pie's cherries originate in Wisconsin, and did its pecans come from Georgia?

A Week Dedicated To Honoring Farmers

Because many people were distancing themselves from the agricultural sector in the 1950s, Kiwanis International and the National Farm-City Council proposed a week dedicated to honoring farmers. In 1956, Congress recognized that urbanization is impossible without farms by designating the week of Thanksgiving as National Farm-City Week. The American Farm Bureau first took charge of planning events for this week in 1988. Lunches honoring farmers, visits to farms, educational events, and more take place all over the country during this week.

Since its inception in 1902, Successful Farming has recognized the value of farmers and ranchers not only at Thanksgiving but at every meal of the year. Check out these stunning and wistful Thanksgiving book covers from the early 20th century by clicking on the link below.

Nationalism With A Unique Spin

Delivering live turkeys to the White House for Thanksgiving has been a national tradition since 1947. The birds were originally slated for Thanksgiving dinner, but President George H.W. Bush started a new tradition of pardoning them in 1989.

Betsy Freese's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Warren Johnson, delivered the official Thanksgiving turkey to President Harry S. Truman in 1950. Mr. Johnson was the editor in chief of Successful Farming at the time. That year, Warren Johnson presided as president of the National Turkey Federation.