My quilt project focuses on the importance of farms in the United States and the challenges farmers face. Farmers are a piece of America’s backbone and farming affects everyone. I spent my weekends as a child going to acres of farm land to learn how to hunt, fish, and look after some crops. Most people rarely think about where their food comes from or who produces it. Farmers provide necessary things like food, your daily nutrition, crops, and so much more. While there are lots of large family farms or company-operated farms that are successful, midsized and small family farms are most commonly forgotten and have a higher risk of extinction. The number of farms in America has continued to decrease while farmers age, thus ruining generations of tradition. There aren’t enough financial resources for young farmers or start-up farms to keep the number of farms from decreasing. Operating farms is a very difficult job for smaller families and smaller pieces of land and it can involve significant financial risk. My quilt uses the message of the America Needs Farmers organization to encourage people to recognize the importance of farmers and agriculture, and connect people to their local farming communities here in Iowa.

Iowa City and the University of Iowa are about 30 minutes from Cornell College. Growing up I saw a yellow and black “ANF” sticker on the Iowa Hawkeye’s football helmets, but I never understood the initialism until I started working security at football games. ANF is a campaign that started in the 1980s due to the farm crisis in America. The Farm Crisis in the 1980s collapsed commodity and land prices and bankrupted thousands of Iowa farmers. Due to this crisis, people began to move out of rural communities and moved to cities. The farm crisis claimed about 235,000 farms by the end of it and closed the book on generations of farming families.1 Some were outraged by this and wanted to use their platform to bring awareness and make a change. Iowa football head coach, Hayden Fry, had a juggernaut team that won lots of games and made the Rose Bowl, but he wanted to make a national statement that went beyond the game. When the Hawkeyes made a trip up to Ohio State in 1985, they had a new decal on their helmet; it was a yellow circle, 2.5 inches wide, with black text that read "ANF.”2 It was the start of the America Needs Farmers program and partnership with the University of Iowa. While they do not provide direct financial relief, they use the slogan “America Needs Farmers” to raise a sense of pride and awareness within their fans. As shown by this action, Iowa has proven itself as a national football brand that continues to show support for farmers in their community and nationwide. 

A statistic that became especially important to my design is that according to the USDA 92% of farms are small or midsize family farms.3 Even though the smaller family farms boast the highest percentage of farmers, they only operate on 58% of the acres in America and make up 35% of the production.4 Most small family farms are purely family-owned operations, and their competition for production is usually big corporate companies that aren’t family-owned, or they are large family farms with a good structure beneath them. Non-family owned farms and large family farms make up 64% of production while only owning 8% of farms in America.4 This shows how much attention start-up farms in their first 10 years need and shows the uphill battle small and midsized family farms are fighting.

I have previously stated how start-up family farms need attention and how difficult it is to start a farm financially. The age of American farmers is a concern and something that factors into farm extinction. In 2022, the average farmer was 58 years old, and only 9% of producers were younger than 35.6 There are new farmers still breaking into the agriculture business, but starting a new farm requires purchases like land, equipment, funds, and knowledge of the craft. This creates a significant barrier to starting life in the agriculture business. For 2026, the USDA forecasts total-farm sector debt at around $605.1 billion.7 Farmers must manage changing prices, weather, fuel, equipment, labor, fertilizer, livestock, land expenses, and debt all while sustaining the rest of the country. That shows how expensive it is to own and operate a farm, and why the smaller family farms and start-up farms need help. The rest of the country depends on farmers.

I tried to connect everything I have talked about into my quilt. On the sides, it shows the visual of the Iowa Hawkeye helmet with the ANF sticker, and an American flag inside the border of the iconic tiger hawk logo. “The thing I'm most proud of here at Iowa is putting the ANF on our headgear,” Iowa coach Hayden Fry said.8 The black and gold text with the Iowa state outline shows the connection to the University of Iowa and their fight against the decline of agriculture nationwide and in their state. The large ANF logo in the middle shows the importance of the ANF organization, and provides viewers with a logo visual that they will definitely see in the surrounding community. The text relays the statistic about 92% of farms being small or midsized family farms. This is an overwhelming number the viewer likely wouldn’t know just looking at the quilt. The most overlooked part of my quilt is likely the background pattern; since it is black, it matches Iowa colors, but it also has small squares that represent small farms. They look like the rural farming area from a bird’s-eye view.

Ultimately, my quilt is about awareness. I have had a close connection to lots of farmers in my life and have spent a lot of time in rural areas. I know how much farmers positively affect my life, but I want more people to recognize their impact. Farmers may represent a relatively small portion of the population, but their work affects everybody. The ANF message began during a crisis more than forty years ago, but its message remains relevant today. America still needs farmers, and understanding who those farmers are and what challenges they face is an important part of appreciating the agricultural system that supports our everyday lives and affects our community around us.

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1. University of Iowa Athletics, America Needs Farmers (Hawkeye Sports).

2. University of Iowa Athletics, America Needs Farmers (Hawkeye Sports).

3. Katherine Lacy and Katherine Lim, Small family farms accounted for 86 percent of U.S. farms and generation 17 percent of the value of production in 2024 (USDA Economic Research Service, 2026).

4. Katherine Lacy and Katherine Lim, Small family farms accounted for 86 percent of U.S. farms and generation 17 percent of the value of production in 2024 (USDA Economic Research Service, 2026).

5. Katherine Lacy and Katherine Lim, Small family farms accounted for 86 percent of U.S. farms and generation 17 percent of the value of production in 2024 (USDA Economic Research Service, 2026).

6. USDA Census of Agriculture, New and Beginning Producers (US Department of Agriculture, 2024).

7. Farm Income Team, Farm Sector Equity (Wealth) Forecast to Remain Relatively Stable in 2026 (USDA Economic Research Service, 2026).

8. Iowa Farm Bureau, What is ANF? (Iowa Farm Bureau).

Bibliography

“ANF – America Needs Farmers.” Iowa Hawkeyes Athletics - Official Athletics Website. 

https://hawkeyesports.com/anf.

“Farm Sector Income & Finances - Assets, Debt, and Wealth.” Farm Sector Income & Finances - 

Assets, Debt, and Wealth | Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-sector-income-finances/assets-debt-and-wealth.

Iowa Farm Bureau. “What Is ANF?” iowafarmbureau.com. 

https://www.iowafarmbureau.com/ANF/What-is-ANF.

“New and Beginning Producers.” USDA Census of Agriculture, April 2024. 

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2024/Census22_HL_Beginning.pdf.

“Small Family Farms Accounted for 86 Percent of U.S. Farms and Generated 17 Percent of the 

Value of Production in 2024.” Small family farms accounted for 86 percent of U.S. farms 

and generated 17 percent of the value of production in 2024 | Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/114161.