I also want to thank those whose combined efforts have developed the safest, most abundant and most affordable food supply in the world.

Like most other Americans, Thanks-giving is a time I gather with my family and friends around a big table of food to reflect on the many blessings we have been given. As we do this, let’s take a moment to reflect on the abundance that we enjoy, not just on Thanksgiving Day but every day.

In this Information Age we live in, it is easy to forget that the safe, plentiful and affordable food that is available to us didn’t just magically appear inside the store. Neither did the materials used to produce the clothing, housing, medicines, fuels and other products that are essential to our lives.

They got there thanks to a complex partnership that includes farmers, processors, resear-chers, brokers, bankers, truckers, railroads, advertisers, wholesalers and retailers. All play a key role in the most efficient and productive agricultural system in the history of the world.

This partnership between town and country has used our rich agricultural resources to create the health and prosperity that Kentuckians enjoy.

This partnership has also been responsible for preserving so much of our rural heritage.

A lot of people just take for granted that farms and abundant food will always be there. But that’s not necessarily the case.

To raise awareness of agriculture’s importance in our everyday lives, I asked Governor Fletcher to proclaim November 17-23, 2006, as Farm-City Week in Kentucky.

This Commonwealth is a special place to live because of its beautiful countryside as well as our rural communities where faith, family and patriotism flourish. For this, my family and I give thanks. I call upon you and your family to do the same.

-Richie Farmer, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture

This farm news was published in the Nov. 22, 2006 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.