So surely you watched the Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1. As reported recently in this blog, Ag PhD had a float to best show the parade theme: Making a Difference. When coming up with the entry, Brian and Darren Hefty thought, Who makes more of a difference than farmers? And here is the result. It seems that Albert was actually at the parade in the grandstand and sent me this picture.
Stephanie sent me this shot from her TV of Brian and Darren in the cab of the float Case IH tractor (of course).
Here is an aerial picture from the TV I was watching showing the length of the float. It was huge, over 100 feet long.
Here is a TV shot showing the float title and the winner of the Wrigley Legacy Award, which is given for the best floral presentation. Well remember that there are seeds being used form all 50 states, including the NCRS. So who could contend with that? That's Brian and Darren's Dad in red on the float. Along with 100 farmer family members from all 50 states. This was a first as well.
So we watched on RFD TV, but I recorded the parade on some other networks to see how they would present this Salute to the Farmer. I was very pleased and impressed that all were very positive and thankful for farmers. Although it was apparent that they all had a fact script. But here is my review:
ABC: I give them the highest grade of A+ for mentioning Brian and Darren by name and mentioning that their show is the "#1 agronomy show on TV". (But they didn't define agronomy.) They said it was from Baltic, SD. They also said how America needs farmers. They mentioned the farmers and seeds from all 50 states. NBC: Also mentioned the seeds and farmers from all states. And how farmers make a difference. I like NBC's Hoda Kotb (to farmers: "God bless 'em") and Al Roker is a card, singing: Oh say can you seed...and he really liked the moving combine. There was a local feed from Fox Los Angeles that said the theme Salute to the Farmer, and No Farmers, No Food. Mentioned the farmers and seeds from all 50 states and thanked The hard working farmers who keep us fed.
Brian and Darren said on their website that it was a goal to show that by far most of the farms in America are run by families who work hard to produce our food. Well based on the commentary and presentation on TV, I say Mission Impossible became Mission Accomplished!
