Hayden Fry knew the Farm Crisis touched many of his players and most of the fans. He was rebuilding the Hawkeye football legacy and wanted to show the nation that the strength of his team could also be measured in their character; he put a small decal on the player's helmets - ANF - America Needs Farmers.

The success of Iowa farmers has been hard-fought with generations of work, sweat and sacrifice. Today's family farmers who make a living from the land have survived many challenges, including the Farm Crisis of the 1980's, which collapsed commodity and land prices, bankrupting thousands of Iowa farmers. Populations shifted from rural communities to larger cities as farm families lost everything. Before it hit, Iowa was home to 121,000 family farms. Nearly 20,000 went under, ending generations of farm legacy for many family farms. Nationally, the Farm Crisis claimed nearly 235,000 family farms.

Hayden Fry, the head football coach at the University of Iowa at that time, knew the Farm Crisis touched many of his players and most of the fans. He was rebuilding the Hawkeye football legacy and wanted to show the nation that the strength of his team could also be measured in their character; he put a small decal on the player's helmets -ANF-- America Needs Farmers.

"The thing I'm most proud of here at Iowa is putting the ANF on our headgear." Hayden Fry

In 1985, the Hawkeye football team was rated the top team in the country for several weeks during that season, won the Big Ten championship and, as such, advanced to the 1986 Rose Bowl as the league's representative. And everyone was asking about the ANF helmet decal. Fry, who received an honorary Iowa Farm Bureau membership that year, said, "The thing I'm most proud of here at Iowa is putting the ANF on our headgear."

Today, just five percent of Iowans make a living from the land. There may be fewer Iowa farmers, but they are more diversified, innovative and efficient, and have weathered new challenges to the way they grow our food and energy. Their job to grow safe, wholesome food has never been more important.

Current UI football coach Kirk Ferentz has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor and has 'ANF' proudly on display on the Hawkeyes' game-day helmets.

Consider this: In less than a generation, our growing global population will require 100 percent more food. Because there is only a finite amount of productive land, we will need about 70 percent of this food to come from efficiency-improving technology used by farmers.

Iowa alone produces an estimated 10 percent of the U.S.'s total food supply and is home to more than a quarter of the nation's largest food manufacturers and processors. Iowa's agricultural legacy in embracing progress, which has helped lead the nation in corn, ethanol, soybean, egg, and hog production, is critical to meeting this growing global demand.

Consider this: In less than a generation, our growing global population will require 100 percent more food. Because there is only a finite amount of productive land, we will need about 70 percent of this food to come from efficiency-improving technology used by farmers.

Challenges abound for farmers in meeting these growing expectations of global food production; it doesn't always mesh with the demands of consumers, who are now two to three generations removed from farming. Increasingly, farmers find roadblocks to meeting demand by a growing group of activists and political mandates that slow or eliminate progress. The late Norman Borlaug, the Father of the Green Revolution whose lifetime of work saved billions from starvation, said embracing farming technology will not just feed a growing world, it will save the environment. He said those who put roadblocks in front of progress will cause the world to pay the price:

"If we grow our food and fiber on the land best suited to farming with the technology that we have and what's coming, including proper use of genetic engineering and biotechnology, we will leave untouched vast tracts of land, with all of their plant and animal diversity."

Farming's impact goes well beyond food and energy. Much of America's innovation in renewable energy, medicine, building materials and diagnostic tools come from the by-products grown and raised by farmers. That list includes biodegradable plastics, batteries, adhesives, textiles, cleansers, heart valves, artificial skin; many more and the list is growing! Opportunities are endless to leverage our agricultural assets to feed a growing world population and help create jobs and new products while preserving our natural resources.

The Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa Farm Bureau are proud to recognize the ANF logo as a testament to the few, the proud, the Farm Strong families of Iowa; the men and women who go the extra mile to not only grow safe, wholesome food, but to protect the land and the legacy of rural Iowa and the American farmer.

Support Badges
Show your support for America's farm strong families by including the ANF badge on your webpage, blog or Facebook page.

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