MONSANTO MNSNT : America’s Farmers Webisodes Offer Behind-the-Scenes Look at Life on the Farm

American farm families share stories of farm life and running a business

Aug 11, 2011

2:34pm

ST. LOUIS (August 10, 2011) Four farm families featured in national television commercials are sharing a behind-the-scenes look into their lives in a series of monthly online webisodes available at www.AmericasFarmers.com.

Each story centers on a different topic highlighting the passion and hard work it takes to grow our nation’s food, while sharing insights into what life is like on a family farm. The families share their personal stories, from what drove them to want to farm; to how they feel the “farm family” lifestyle benefits their children; to what they want their farming legacy to be.

“The families in these webisodes provide an inside look into the daily hard work and teamwork that goes into a family farming operation,” says Mark Halton, Monsanto’s Corporate Marketing lead. “These families work each day to put food on our tables and clothes on our backs, while caring for the land and raising the next generation of American farmers.”

The four families are:

• The Matthews family (Western Missouri, corn and soybeans) Travis Matthews and his brother, Hoss, took over the family farm as teenagers following a family tragedy. Travis married his high-school sweetheart, Melinda, who says they feel fortunate to raise their four children on the farm.
• The DeRocher family (Northwest Iowa, corn and soybeans) Since 1984, the DeRochers have worked hard to grow their farm alongside their family. Kevin and Sandi DeRocher have raised five children on the farm and hope to someday pass it on to their two oldest sons, who are already farming a little land of their own.
• The Boyd family (Eastern Georgia, cotton, peanuts, corn, vegetables and livestock) Will and Wendy Boyd, along with Will’s brother, Ben, are as active in their community as they are on the farm. In addition to working for their local school and government, they are passionate advocates of agriculture and have appeared on CBS news and on the pages of Time magazine. “Farming is not what we do, it’s who we are,” the Boyds say, and they hope their children will grow up thinking the same.
• The Sneed family (Western Tennessee, corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat) Brotherly love is an underlying theme of the Sneed farm, where Ray is one of five brothers who keeps the operation going. A 35-year veteran of the industry, Ray likes the fact that no two days are the same in farming. He says a “love of the land” is vital to a farmer’s success.

Eight webisodes are now posted on AmericasFarmers.com with such titles as “Family Business,” “Kids and Cattle,”  “Love of the Land” and “Growing the Farm.”

“It’s my passion for farming that really drives me,” states third-generation Tennessee farmer Ray Sneed in “Love of the Land.” “Anything that you do, if you don’t have a passion for it, I guarantee you’re not going to be successful.”

Adds Ray’s brother and farming partner, Terry Sneed, “To be able to farm on that land and then to see it producing something for someone I may never know or get a chance to meet, that’s worthwhile.”

The Boyd family, of Sylvania, Georgia, is also featured in the television campaign and webisode series. “I think there is a bright future in agriculture right now because we’ve got a growing population, and we don’t have a growing number of farmers,” says Will Boyd. “As farmers, it’s just vitally important that we keep producing more product, become more efficient, and be good stewards of the land.”

New webisodes are posted each month to AmericasFarmers.com. Upcoming topics include farm moms, farming challenges and producing for the world.

About Monsanto Company

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto focuses on enabling both smallholder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world’s natural resources such as water and energy. To learn more about our business and our commitments, please visit www.monsanto.com. Follow our business on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MonsantoCo, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MonsantoCo, or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed.

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