New Year’s resolutions are an annual tradition as people use the dawn of a new year to make positive changes in their lives, like exercising more, eating healthier or losing weight.

Isabella Chism, chair of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Women’s Leadership Committee, says farmers should add agricultural advocacy to their list of resolutions in 2023.

“If we don’t talk about our story and what’s happening to us and to our neighbors, then no one else is going to do that,” she says.

Advocacy is more important than ever, especially as activists continue to spew misinformation about agriculture. On “60 Minutes” recently, the chair of the World Wildlife Fund blamed agriculture in part for hastening endangered species extinction, saying we need to “get so much better at what we produce, where we produce it, how we produce it.” 

She should check out the latest information from Farmers for a Sustainable Future, a coalition of ag groups including Farm Bureau, showing how farmers continue to produce more with greater efficiency.

Compared to 1990, U.S. farmers are producing 43% more food and agricultural products while largely using the same amount of inputs. Farmers are also planting more acres of cover crops than ever and implementing other conservation practices. 

Agriculture is constantly in the crosshairs whenever groups want to fix whatever environmental problems are on their radar. They don’t seem to understand farmers are already on the job. It’s time to let them know about it.