I was speaking to a group of high school seniors about social media when I made the comment that, in the age of artificial intelligence and deep fakes, it’s important to “touch grass.”

They burst out laughing, and my millennial brain went into panic mode as I asked, “Please tell me I used that phrase correctly.”

(Thankfully, I did.)

But I love the sentiment behind this phrase. Because in a time when so much of what we see online can be manipulated, it helps to remember what—and who—is real.

In my work visiting Iowa family farms, I’m reminded of that often.

When I visited Katherine Boelen’s dairy farm in Poweshiek County, I saw cows cared for like professional athletes, with specialized diets, digital health trackers and barns designed to keep them comfortable year-round. I watched how the Boelens recycle water, use manure as a natural fertilizer and grow cover crops that both feed their cows and keep nutrients in place and out of nearby streams.

At Schyler Bardole’s cattle, pig and grain farm in Greene County, trust is built across generations. His family was among the first in their area to adopt GPS-guided tractors, no-till farming and cover crops. They continue to innovate with rotational grazing, tree plantings and upcycling manure. All this works to build healthier soils and conserve natural resources.  

On Kate Long’s farm in Dallas County, trust shows up at 2 a.m. during calving season. While most of us are asleep, Kate and her family are checking calves at all hours of the night to ensure they’re safe, fed and healthy. Weather, exhaustion and unpredictability are just part of the job because the animals always come first. And like Katherine and Schyler, Kate and her family use a variety of conservation practices from cover crops to conservation tillage and terraces and rotational grazing to protect water quality.

This kind of work rarely makes headlines, but it’s exactly what builds trust. Which may explain why 91% of Iowa grocery shoppers say they trust farmers according to Iowa Farm Bureau’s 2025 Food and Farm Index®.

Most of us don’t think about what it takes to grow our food. We don’t have to because farmers are earning our confidence through generations of care, stewardship and connection to the land.

And maybe that’s what it really means to touch grass.