By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
The Rotary Club of Bucyrus used its annual Rural-Urban Day at the Bucyrus Elks as an opportunity to connect with the rural producer and the urban consumer.
Tuesday afternoon’s guest speaker for the event was program specialist of Animal Science at The Ohio State University, Bonnie Ayars.
Ayars explained the importance of the relationship between consumer and producer.
“It is just that we need to understand more about each other. Maybe they need to understand more about my occupation in this century and at this time, and it is not the same,” Ayars said. “And the same whatever their occupation is they deserve my active listening and my questions as well. So that when we sit at the table it’s a good meal.”
During her speech Ayers spoke of three sticking points: be in, be real, and be bold.
Ayers spoke that to be in, one must be passionate about something in their lives, that as a nation of consumers and producers we might look at the dinner table differently.
Touching on be real Ayers said farmers are told to be more transparent. “A farmer’s lifestyle is left to a very few passionate souls. When your two closest relatives are Mother Nature and Uncle Sam you need to be bold.”
Alec Miller, one of the Wynford FFA students attending the Rural-Urban Day gave his thoughts on Ayers speech. “I thought it was touching. It was very informative; more people should have listened to it.”
Colonel Crawford FFA student Jessica Millenbaugh said, “I thought the speech was great, she made a lot of good points and reached out to a lot of people.“
Prior to introducing Ayers, Fred Hendricks mentioned that next year’s Rural-Urban Day might be held in a different venue to accommodate more people.