Farmer Quotes That Will Make You Love the Land

These farmer quotes and sayings will give you a newfound respect for the harvest.

Farming and agriculture are the backbones of our society.

This collection of farming quotes will remind you of the noteworthy contributions made by these members of our community.

Tell us your favorite farmer quote in the comment section below.

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According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), small-scale farmers produce about 80% of the food in developing countries, making them critical to global food security.

Embracing farming and supporting small-scale farmers through initiatives such as purchasing locally grown produce or starting a garden can contribute to food security.

What are the benefits of reading these farmer quotes?

Without farmers, we wouldn’t have access to food and other necessities.

Take a moment to really appreciate this profession and all the hard work and dedication the farm life requires. 

As the population continues to grow, the workload of farmers also expands.

The best quotes about farming and agriculture will:

• Make you respect the difficult labor that goes into every harvest
• Help you better understand the challenges they face
• Have you appreciating the process of how food arrives at your table

Thanks to farmers, we can eat a wide range of fruits and vegetables all year round.

The bountiful harvest of the farmlands sustains us all.

Share these farmer quotes about working the land to inspire your friends and family.

These words of wisdom can help motivate you if you ever feel like giving up.

In both farming and life, hard work and perseverance always pay off.

Also, check out our collection of sunflower quotes to learn from.

Also, check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily wisdom. 

See the rest of our quote database for even more inspirational ideas and thoughts.

Farmer quotes that will make you appreciate the harvest

A study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) found that small farms are up to 4 times more productive per unit of land than larger farms.

This highlights the importance of supporting small-scale farmers and encouraging them through farmer quotes, so they continue promoting food security.

1. “I would rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.” – George Washington

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2. “Cultivators are the most valuable citizens… they are tied to their country.” – Thomas Jefferson

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3. “The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

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4. “To be a farmer is to be a student forever, for each day brings something new.” -John Connell

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5. “As long as there’s a few farmers out there, we’ll keep fighting for them.” – Willie Nelson

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6. “To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” -Mahatma Gandhi

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7. “The master’s eye is the best fertilizer.” – Pliny the Elder

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8. “The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer.” – Will Rogers

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9. “Farming is a profession of hope.” – Brett Brian

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10. “Agriculture engenders good sense, and good sense of an excellent kind.” – Joseph Joubert

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Farmer quotes about working the land

The United Nations (UN) estimates that over 820 million people worldwide are undernourished, most of whom live in developing countries.

Reading and sharing farming quotes can help raise awareness about the importance of farming to address this critical issue.

11. “The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.” – Masanobu Fukuoka

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12. “Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” – Thomas Jefferson

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13. “The story of family farming underscores a legacy of sustainability.” – Amanda Zaluckyj

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14. “We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist.” – Wendell Berry

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15. “Do what you love to do, and be around things that make you smile. The cows make me smile every day.” – David Jackson

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16. “I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.” – Andy Warhol

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17. “Whether it’s on the tractor or in the pasture with the cows, I just love being able to take my kids to work when I need to.” – Will Collier

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18. “There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age.” – Bill Bryson

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19. “Farmers only worry during the growing season, but townspeople worry all the time.” – Edgar Watson Howe

20. “It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.” – B. C. Forbes

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Farmer quotes about hard work and perseverance

A survey by the National Farmers Union found that 92% of farmers believe their occupation provides a strong sense of purpose and accomplishment.

This statistic emphasizes the pride and fulfillment that farmers experience in their work, making their quotes and sayings even more impactful.

21. “It feels good at the end of the day to know you made a product that other people are going to enjoy.” – Jericho Sanchez

22. “My dream is to become a farmer. Just a Bohemian guy pulling up his own sweet potatoes for dinner.” – Lenny Kravitz

23. “Frankly, any city person who doesn’t think I deserve a white-collar salary as a farmer doesn’t deserve my special food.” – Joel Salatin

24. “The farm is part of me.” – Erich Wehrenberg

25. “Factory farming came about from a moral race to the bottom, with corporations vying against each other to produce more and bigger animals with less care at lower cost.” – Matthew Scully

26. “It is thus with farming: if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work.” – Cato the Elder

27. “Farming is a matter of dirt and dung. It is not the kind of thing we look to to find the meaning of human life. It is too ordinary, too inescapably a part of life to be interesting. We know that it has to be done, but see no reason to pay much attention to it. But it is just because farming is inescapably a part of human life that it may provide a clue to what is most basically human, and so a clue to our place within the cosmos.” – Stephanie Nelson

28. “Life on a farm is a school of patience; you can’t hurry the crops or make an ox in two days.” – Henri Alain

29. “A farm is a manipulative creature. There is no such thing as finished. Work comes in a stream and has no end. There are only the things that must be done now and things that can be done later. The threat the farm has got on you, the one that keeps you running from can until can’t is this: do it now, or some living thing will wilt or suffer or die. Its blackmail, really.” – Kristin Kimball

30. “The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life.” – Arthur Keith

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Farmer quotes to motivate you

In a study published by the Journal of Rural Studies, researchers found that farmers who engage in sustainable and organic practices experience a greater sense of well-being.

This finding supports the notion that embracing a more eco-friendly and responsible approach to farming can lead to a deeper appreciation for the land and the work farmers do.

31. “A good farmer is nothing more nor less than a handy man with a sense of humus.” – E. B. White

32. “Agriculture is the greatest and fundamentally the most important of our industries. The cities are but the branches of the tree of national life, the roots of which go deeply into the land. We all flourish or decline with the farmer.” – Bernard Baruch

33. “Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.” – Samuel Johnson

34. “Farming isn’t a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they continue.” – Jeff Koehler

35. “Agriculture looks different today – our farmers are using GPS and you can monitor your irrigation systems over the Internet.” – Debbie Stabenow

36. “I do think that there is a big difference between family farms and agri-business, and one of the distressing things that I think has occurred is with consolidation of farm lands. You’ve seen large agri-businesses benefit from enormous profits from existing farm programs, and I think we should be focusing most of those programs on those family farmers.” – Barack Obama

37. “To make agriculture sustainable, the grower has got to be able to make a profit.” – Sam Farr

38. “Agriculture has become essential to life; the forest, the lake, and the ocean cannot sustain the increasing family of man; population declines with a declining cultivation, and nations have ceased to be with the extinction of their agriculture.” – Elias Hasket Derby

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39. “Agriculture is the noblest of all alchemy; for it turns earth, and even manure, into gold, conferring upon its cultivator the additional reward of health.” – Paul Chatfield

40. “If the rain spoils our picnic, but saves a farmer’s crop, who are we to say it shouldn’t rain?” – Tom Barrett

Other inspirational farmer quotes

A study from the University of Exeter discovered that people who engage in community gardening or farming projects report higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction.

This research supports the idea that connecting with the land and the farming lifestyle can have a positive impact on one’s overall well-being, making these farmer quotes even more inspiring.

41. “If you tickle the earth with a hoe she laughs with a harvest.” – Douglas Jerrold
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42. “The goal of any farmer, after producing enough to feed his own family, has always been to find the best place to sell the year’s crop.” – Sonny Perdue

43. “Strong communities are built around local, real food. Food we trust to nourish our bodies, the farmer and planet.” – Kimbal Musk

44. “I love the idea of farm to table and farmer’s markets. I enjoy a meal more if I know I’m eating something that’s good quality and good for me.” – Haylie Duff

45. “When I help a farmer, I don’t differentiate between them based on their region, as farmers have no borders. I want to live like a world citizen and react like a human being.” – Prakash Raj

46. “My feeling was, you plant some seeds. If they grow, great; if they don’t, you don’t take it personally. Not my problem; I just kept planting. Just like a farmer.” – Hank Haney

47. “Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures, since the productions of nature are the materials of art.” – Edward Gibbon

48. “It is impossible to have a healthy and sound society without a proper respect for the soil.” – Peter Maurin

49. “Agriculture was the first occupation of man, and as it embraces the whole earth, it is the foundation of all other industries.” – Edward W. Stewart

50. “My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.” – Brenda Schoepp

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Farmer quotes for everyone to appreciate

51. “If the farmer is poor then so is the whole country.” — Polish Proverb

 52. “A farmer is a magician who produces money from the mud.” — Amit Kalantri

53. “The farmer is a born philosopher, the aristocrat has to learn how.” — Polish Proverb

 54. “Even if a farmer intends to loaf, he gets up in time to get an early start.” — Edgar Watson Howe

55. “The corn is not choked by the weeds but by the negligence of the farmer.” — Chinese Proverb

56. “The farmer hopes for rain, the walker hopes for sunshine, and the gods hesitate.” — Chinese Proverb

57. “Farming isn’t something that can be taught. Each plant tells its own story that has to be read repeatedly.” — Kelsey Timmerman

 58. “Raw ingredients trump recipes every time; farmers and ranchers who coax the best from the earth can make any of us appear to be a great cook.” — Judy Rodgers

 59. “Our farmers deserve praise, not condemnation; and their efficiency should be cause for gratitude, not something for which they are penalized.” — John F. Kennedy

60. “We need farmers, more than any other profession. If lawyers, politicians, bankers, university academics or salesmen were to somehow disappear tomorrow, I think the world would muddle through pretty well. Some things might even get better. But if farmers were to vanish, most of us would be dead within a year.” — Dave Goulson

More farmer quotes

61. “As the Republican platforms says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country.” – William Howard Taft

62. “I inherited that calm from my father, who was a farmer. You sow, you wait for good or bad weather, you harvest, but working is something you always need to do.” – Miguel Indurain

63. “Agriculture is at the core of the state.” – Dave Cook

64. “It will not be doubted that with reference either to individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance.” – George Washington

65. “When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.” – Daniel Webster

66. “Agriculture is a fundamental source of national prosperity.” – J.J. Mapes

67. “Weeding is as necessary to agriculture as sowing.” – Mahatma Gandhi

68. “No race can prosper until it learns there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” – Booker T. Washington

69. “If we as a society are willing to have a preference for organic food, the farmer can pass on the savings.” – Robert Patterson

70. “The duty of the individual farmer, at this time, is to increase his production, particularly of food crops.” – David F. Houston

Farmer quotes that will inspire you to plant a garden

71. “A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating.” –Wendell Berry

72. “There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.” –Aldo Leopold

73. “The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946. That is not very long ago. Until then, where was all the food? Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests. It was near kitchens, near tables, near bedsides. It was in the pantry, the cellar, the backyard.” –Joel Salatin

74. “The fields are black and ploughed, and they lie like a great fan before us, with their furrows gathered in some hand beyond the sky, spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as they come toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin, green spangles.” –Ayn Rand

75. “Here in the country, on a little farm in southern Georgia, I am building a quiet life of resistance. I am a radical peasant, and every day I take out my little hammer, and I keep building.” –Janisse Ray

76. “If you really want to be a good gardener, you need to understand what is going on in your soil.” –Jeff Lowenfels

77. “Soil is not just a substance, soil is the soul.” –Amit Kalantri

78. “There’s nothing like eating food you’ve grown yourself.” –A.D. Aliwat

79. “Without the farmer, there is no food.” –Lailah Gifty Akita

80. “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.” –Wendell Berry

Farmer quotes to appreciate their hard work

81. “It was farmers that took all that land and made it America…It was farmers that went over the mountains, and cleared the land, and settled it, and farmed it, and hung onto their land.” -Laura Ingalls Wilder

82. “In olden times there were warriors, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. Agriculture was said to be closer to the source of things than trade or manufacturing, and the farmer was said to be “the cupbearer of the gods.”  He was always able to get by somehow or other and have enough to eat.” -Masanobu Fukuoka

83. “You know, farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

84. “When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized.” -Masanobu Fukuoka

85. “Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, the emptiness of ages in his face, and on his back the burden of the world.” -Edwin Markham

86. “A farmer is always going to be rich next year.” -Philemon

87. “Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants a tree, is more than all.” -John Greenleaf Whittier

88. “The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.” – John F. Kennedy

89. “In winter’s chill or summer’s heat, farmers and ranchers work so the world can eat.” -Author Unknown

90. “Because of their connection to the land, farmers do more to protect and preserve our environment than almost anyone else. They are some of the best environmentalists around.” -Ike Skelton 

Farmer Quotes That Make You Appreciate Their Work

91. “I expected to be a farmer like my father and brothers. Life seemed pleasant and orderly.” ― Lawrence Welk

92. “The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.” ― Thomas Jefferson

93. “There is no reason, in a free society, that farmers shouldn’t be allowed to raise hemp. Hemp is a good product.” ― Ron Paul

94. “I’m a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice.” ― Bill Monroe

95. “Love is to the heart what the summer is to the farmer’s year. It brings to harvest all the loveliest flowers of the soul.” ― Billy Graham

96. “If a farmer calls me to a sick animal, he couldn’t care less if I were George Bernard Shaw.” ― James Herriot

97. “Corn is a greedy crop, as farmers will tell you.” ― Michael Pollan

98. “The farmer works the soil. The agriculturalist works the farmer.” ― Eugene Fitch Ware

99. “I live in a rural part of Virginia surrounded by farms and farmers.” ― Barbara Kingsolver

100. “I’ve always said I want a farmer, not a hunter. Hunters go for the kill and they move on. A farmer nurtures; he watches things grow.” ― Eva Longoria

Farmer Quotes For Their Hardwork

101. “The wheat bought by a farmer to sow is comparatively a fixed capital to the wheat purchased by a baker to make into loaves.” ― David Ricardo

102. “Essentially, we have a system where wealthy farmers feed the poor crap and poor farmers feed the wealthy high-quality food.” ― Michael Pollan

103. “Soil is a living ecosystem and is a farmer’s most precious asset. A farmer’s productive capacity is directly related to the health of his or her soil.” ― Howard Warren Buffett

104. “What makes the farmers market such a special place is that you are actually creating community around food.” ― Bryant Terry

105. “I’m a peanut farmer at heart, still grow peanuts on my farm in Georgia.” ― Jimmy Carter

106. “Tools were made and born were hands, Every farmer understands.” ― William Blake

107. “A real farmer. He spent his childhood in the wheat, and his marriage in the hay.” ― Mae West

108. “Know you food, know your farmers, and know your kitchen.” ― Joel Salatin

109. “I’m a farmer’s market girl, so if you go and get beautiful, fresh fruit, that’s local, and it hasn’t been frozen yet, it’s pretty fantastic.” ― Tracee Ellis Ross

110. “I am a farmer singing at the plow.” ― Jesse Stuart

Farmer Quotes To Celebrate The Life of Farmers And Farming

111. “Never underestimate a farmer.” — Lance Conrad

112. “A farm is the application form for a farmer to work for the earth.” — Dr Sivakumar Gowder

113. “Farming is intrinsically about sustaining land, family, and community.” — Hal Hamilton

114. “Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful and most noble employment of man.” — George Washington

115.  “Agriculture is not farming it’s feeding.” —  Reddy Sai

116. “Farmers are professional hopers.” — Kristin Kimball

117. “Not a moment of life is wasted on a farm. Others may have been more places, but haven’t outlived me.” — Jim Fisher

118. Farming leads to food production.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

119. “The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

120.  “To a farmer, dirt is not a waste, it is wealth.” — Amit Kalantrirge Washington

Farmer Quotes To Support National Economy

121. “I do feel like food should cost more, because we aren’t paying farmers a living wage. It has to cost more.” ― Alice Waters

122. “Farmers…can no longer keep up with rising demand; thus the outlook is for chronic scarcities and rising prices.” ― Lester R. Brown

123. “I think that the farmer displaces the Indian even because he redeems the meadow, and so makes himself stronger and in some respects more natural.” ― Henry David Thoreau

124. “Prosperous farmers make for a prosperous nation, and when farmers are in trouble, the nation is in trouble.” ― Harry S. Truman

125. “Lab to land – how to get what is done in the lab to the land, to the farmer.” ― Narendra Modi

126. “We must enable farmers to feed India and the world; and earn a good livelihood.” ― Narendra Modi

127. “We will link farmers to global markets. We will give the world the Taste of India.” ― Narendra Modi

128. “I think the fall from the farmer to the operative as great and memorable as that from the man to the farmer.” ― Henry David Thoreau

129. “The farmers are the founders of civilization.” ― Daniel Webster

130. “I’m still a farm boy at heart. If I hadn’t suffered from asthma as a child, I would be a farmer today.” ― Jim Davis

Farmer Quotes for Crop Production

131. “Most of the time pests and disease are just nature’s way of telling the farmer he’s doing something wrong.” ― Michael Pollan

132. “Tilth is something every farmer can recognize but no scientist can measure.” ― Walter Russell

133. “Every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own, unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather.” ― Robertson Davies

134. “To keep farmers on the farm we must maintain a strong farm safety net, but we will also have to build a thriving companion economy to compliment production agriculture in rural America.” ― Tom Vilsack

135. “We need to create incentives for our ranchers and farmers to manage their lands to maximize carbon sequestration.” ― Michael Pollan

136. “A rancher is a farmer who farms the public lands with a herd of four-legged lawn mowers.” ― Edward Abbey

137. “When you figure it right down, none of us are in a really essential business but the farmer, and he raises so much that even his business is partly non-essential.” ― Will Rogers

138. “Prosperous farmers mean more employment, more prosperity for the workers and the business men of every industrial area in the whole country.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt

139. “I haven’t seen a tractor working all day. The country has gone sane and got back to horses. Farmers all look worse, but they feel better.” ― Will Rogers

140. “Reducing trade barriers with this key ally will go a long way toward increasing market access for American farmers, manufacturers and service providers.” ― Jim Ramstad

Farmer Quotes To Steer You Towards Farming 

141. “In undertaking farming we undertake a responsibility covering the whole life cycle. We can break it or keep it whole.” — Lord Northbourne

142. “If the farmer is rich, then so is the nation.” ― Amit Kalantri

143. “The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

144. “How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors.” — Jane Smiley

145. “He was born to be a farmer. It was something that he was good at, something he knew well. He was a giver of life, an alchemist that worked in dirt, seed, and manure.”

― Tracy Winegar

146. “Farmers farm for the love of farming.” — Wendell Berry

147. “Farming is “possibly the most spiritually, emotionally, and physically engrossing pursuit one can make.” — Andrew Kilduff

148. “We need more young people involved in farming because the future needs real food.” — Helena Sylvester

149. “Farming is a calling. A calling to risk everything, to provide everything, for everyone.” — Kelly Griggs

150. “Farming is not just a job. It’s a responsibility and a privilege.” — Joel Watson

Which farmer quotes and sayings make you fall in love with the land?

Farming and agriculture are important staples of our society.

If you want to show a farmer your respect and appreciation, show them your favorite farming quote from this list.

Being a farmer is a difficult and often thankless profession.

Working the land and gaining a bountiful harvest is backbreaking labor that takes blood, sweat, and tears.

Remember, these farming quotes and insights into farm life the next time you’re shopping for produce at the grocery store. 

Farmers have a vitally important role in the community.

Read this collection of agriculture quotes to renew your respect for the farming lifestyle.

These words of wisdom come from the minds of acclaimed philosophers, famed celebrities, and expert farmers.

Share these farming quotes with your friends and family to inspire and enlighten them.

What are your favorite farmer quotes about agriculture?

Let us know in the comment section below.