6,000 slices of farm life

Members of the Farmers for the Future social network have uploaded some 6,000 images through the Web site’s photo sharing tool, and it’s been a pleasant surprise to see how well this feature has resonated with people.

Surfing through the pictures gives you a good feel for what most interests the nation’s young and beginning farmers. If you look at a very large selection of the photos, you’ll see what subjects are most on their minds—primarily family and the animals and crops they tend. Machinery is also a popular subject—no wonder, inasmuch as they live so much of their lives in tractor, combine and pickup cabs.

Jennifer Dammann, who farms with her husband in southwest Iowa, is one of the photographers featured in a new slideshow highlighting a few of the latest images from the network.

What motivates her photography is that "it’s a way to capture what we do in ag,” Jennifer says.

“I feel that we need to show what we do. Many people do not know what a planter looks like, what a beef cow looks like, etc., so I feel that if I can take some pictures it will help educate the non-farm community," she says.

One of the things that strikes me about this big collection of pictures is how everyone has their own approach to photography--and how every farm is so very different. Jennifer brings her farm to life by including her husband and daughter in many of the images.

“For example, the "Heading to the planter" photo shows something that happens almost every night that we are planting. It is our farm life and we are proud to be farmers and we just want to share that with others," she says.

Sometimes the photographs bring revelations. Shane Newbrough, a Missouri farmer, reflects on a photo of his dad out in the field. "My father tells me stories about working ground with a team of horses," Shane writes. "And to see him standing next to a 185-hp tractor and a 31-row planter....just in his lifetime. It makes me wonder what I will be standing next to one day when my son takes a picture of me."

Take a quick tour to see just a few of these outstanding pictures of spring field work, family life, and farmstead action.