Ketelsen entertains corn, soybean growers at annual banquet

There is nobody quite like a farmer, members of the McLeod County Corn & Soybean Growers Association heard at their annual banquet Saturday night.
Lynn Ketelsen of the Linder Farm Network was the guest speaker, and said that they are unique in their love for their jobs.
“When you walk up to most people and ask them why they do what they do, hardly any of them say ‘I’m doing it because I love it and it’s what I always wanted to do,’” said Ketelsen.
On the other hand, “100 percent of farmers will say they farm because they love it and it’s what they’ve always wanted to do,” Ketelsen said. “And always, always, they will say they love being part of a family unit and working together.”
Which is why farmers are so good at what they do, Ketelsen added.
“When you love what you do, you’re going to be better at it than anyone else,” he said.
And that is why, he said, he enjoys being a reporter who focuses on agriculture — because he gets to mingle with farmers.
Ketelsen said that, sometimes, people need to be reminded about how important agriculture is in the state.
He said he was invited to speak to the Minnesota State Fair Board, whose members, he said, were “kind of down in the dumps” about people’s perception of the state fair.
A recent poll indicated that only about 20 percent of the state fair’s attendees came to see the animals and crops. Seventy percent came to eat.
“When I spoke to them, I said that 90 percent of the people who come to the state fair come because of agriculture,” Ketelsen said. That stunned some people, who thought he had misunderstood the statistics.
“I asked, ‘what do farmers do?’ Farmers grow food. Farmers aren’t just producing a kernel of corn, they’re making corn chips,” said Ketelsen.
For about Ketelsen's comments, see the Feb. 1 print edition of The Chronicle.