Louisville, KY (PRWEB) August 16, 2012
More than ever, people today are tuned in to the food they eat and how its produced.
Writer David Hoppe and photographer Kristin Hess address an audience of more than 100 Hoosiers, many of whom are featured in the book, “Food for Thought: An Indiana Harvest.”
We even have an entire TV network devoted to food, said Andy Dietrick, Indiana Farm Bureau director of public relations, speaking for Indianas Family of Farmers. Can you remember a time when cooks were considered rock stars?
To tap into this heightened awareness of and interest in food, Indianas Family of Farmers is teaming with Indiana Humanities to promote a recently published book, Food for Thought: An Indiana Harvest. Through stories and pictures, the book captures Indianas rich agricultural history and the states current food renaissance. A statewide book tour to help Hoosiers personally engage with it recently received a boost in the form of a $ 25,000 grant from Farm Credit Mid-America.
Farm Credit has been a great help to us before, and their assistance on this project will be invaluable, said Dietrick. Their generous gift makes it possible for us to get to more places, talk with more people, and create a richer and more productive experience for everyone.
Food for Thought: An Indiana Harvest is the culmination of the two organizations highly successful and award-winning Food for Thought initiative that promoted a statewide dialogue about food. Through the first-person voices of a lively cross section of more than 80 individuals who are part of todays Indiana food tapestrysome of whom are farmersit tells the story of Indianas food history and culture and those who are creating this fresh and dynamic scene.
We are so thankful for the support from Farm Credit and for Indianas Family of Farmers continued partnership, said Keira Amstutz, president and CEO of Indiana Humanities. This book tour will allow us to hold conversations in communities across the state with growers, restaurateurs, and others who charge head-on into the challenges of making a living through food.
Dietrick said that the book and its goals should be of particular interest to farmers, retail agriculture and anyone with a connection to Indiana farming because people with questions are getting their informationand many times misinformationfrom the internet.
Todays consumers arent as connected to the farm and our food production system as they once were, he said. This book tour is a great opportunity to reach out to those consumers who may have questions and keep the conversation going. Its important that farmers are one of the voices in that conversation.
Randy Barbee, Farm Credit director of communications, said that the ag lending cooperative was pleased to partner with Indianas Family of Farmers and Indiana Humanities by supporting the book tour. At Farm Credit, were going through a rebranding initiative to ensure that what customers see in the marketplace really represents who we are now and who we hope to be tomorrow. In a sense, thats what our farmer-members are doing with the food they are producing not only for those in our four-state area, but around the world, said Barbee. With todays consumers wanting to know more about how their food is produced, we salute Indiana Humanities and Indianas Family of Farmers for their vision and resourcefulness in undertaking this important, much-needed and ambitious project.
The engaging, reader-friendly volume launched August 12 at the Indiana State Fair at a special farm-to-fork luncheon event sponsored by Indiana Humanities. Its broad audience is anyone with a love for food, cooking and Hoosier tradition. The publishers hope to engage with a wide range of readers including farmers, retail agriculture aficionados, foodies, agribusiness tourists, farmers market regulars and hometown Hoosier restaurateurs. A book tour begins in late August and runs through the fall.
About Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, ACA
Farm Credit Services of Mid-America is an $ 18.3 billion financial services cooperative serving more than 92,500 farmers, agribusinesses and rural residents in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The association provides loans for all farm and rural living purposes including real estate, operating loans,equipment loans, and housing loans. FCS also provides an array of financial services,
including crop insurance and leases. For more information about Farm Credit, call 1-800-444-FARM or visit them on the web at http://www.e-farmcredit.com.
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