Simple, breathtaking beauty

This morning I was on my way to work and I was struck by a beauty so simple and so ordinary for our Kansas town. Our local grain elevator, Bunge, was surrounded by grain trucks waiting to drop off their load of precious grain.

I kept driving for a second, but was just struck by the scene, so I went back. I needed a photo.

It was hard finding a good vantage point since the grain elevator is right off a road that isn’t exactly easy to stop on, so I stopped on a nearby side street to grab the shot. Thank goodness for a parking lot off of a building right across the street.

When I was taking the photos, I could hear the hum of the elevator and the trucks idling, steam coming the trucks in the cool, crisp fall air. The photos were truly worth going back and taking.

The above photos embodies not only Kansas, but the product of the hard work our farmers put in year-round to provide products for our nation. These farmers and ranchers work tirelessly — and at great monetary risk — each season. They are at the mercy of the weather every year. You can’t predict what the weather will be like from year to year.

To illustrate how important farming and ranching is to our community, I found this information: according to the Kansas Department of Agriculture, “agriculture is the largest economic driver in Kansas, valued at more than $62 billion, accounting for 43 percent of the state’s total economy. There are 46,137,295 acres of land. Farmland accounts for 88.9 percent of all Kansas land. More than 21 million acres in Kansas is harvested for crops and over 16 million is pastureland for grazing animals. Kansas farmers and ranchers are feeding the world. In 2012, Kansas exported nearly $4.9 billion in agricultural products. The top five exports include wheat, beef and veal, soybeans, feeds and fodders, and corn.”

I am proud to be a part of this community I call home and this community full of so many hard-working people.

So, part of your food supply — and these photos — are brought to you by Kansas farmers.