How agriculture lives out Martin Luther King Jr.’s call to serve one another

Martin Luther King Jr. understood a fundamental truth about America: Our nation was built on founding ideals that inspire us to serve one another with justice and integrity. As King told an overflowing congregation in Memphis just two weeks before his assassination, “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” 

Across our country, farmers, ranchers, and agricultural workers rise before dawn and press on through uncertainty to do work that sustains life itself. They steward the land, care for animals, manage risk, and persevere through droughts, floods, and market swings so their fellow Americans can eat, thrive, and live with security.  

This is labor that uplifts humanity, carried out with discipline, responsibility, and excellence. 

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we honor King by striving to live out