Ag advocate, blogger and cattle producer Amanda Radke will present at the N.D. Winter Show on March 6 at 10 am

By Ruth Nicolaus

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – A well-known agriculture advocate will be speaking during the North Dakota Winter Show in Valley City.

Amanda Radke, Mitchell, S.D. will present at the Winter Show on Friday, March 6 at 10 am in the main arena.

Radke, who raises cattle with her husband Tyler on their farm, will talk about consumer trends in the ag business. “One of the things I’ll focus on is what the media and society are saying and thinking about agriculture,” she said. “So often it’s negative in tone. How can we as farmers and ranchers counter some of that misinformation and share our stories in a way that builds relationships and connects people from rural to urban areas?”

Radke, who has been an ag advocate since 2006, remembers her parents putting her in her first public speaking contest at the age of eight, “and I loved it,” she said. Throughout FFA and 4-H, she honed her speaking skills, and as a high school senior, she won a national beef ambassador contest, which gave her the opportunity to promote beef at consumer events. “I fell in love with telling our story,” she said.

But it was a letter that went viral last year that catapulted her into her advocacy even more.

When the popular talk show hostess Ellen DeGeneres denigrated eating beef on her show, Radke wrote a response to her. DeGeneres released a video “that said we should eat less meat because it was better for the animals, the planet and our health,” Radke said. “I addressed those talking points.”

The letter resonated. It was read by millions of people, Radke said, and she did about forty media interviews in the weeks following its release. DeGeneres did not respond, but Radke didn’t find that surprising, since her show is sponsored by a plant-based burger.

“I’m still counting it as a victory because of the media exposure that came from it. It was a great opportunity to dispel myths.”

Radke says the popular cultural myth that eating no beef will help the planet isn’t true. “It’s crazy, that skipping a three ounce serving of beef is going to be the change that saves us all.”

She and Tyler have three children, ages five, three, and one, and she wears many hats: beef producer, ag advocate, blogger, mom, wife, rancher, speaker, and author of children’s books that are ranch-themed with accurate ag info to promote ag literacy.

Her presentation at the Winter Show will address the consequences of the negativity pointed at agriculture in the U.S. “There is a trend of wanting to control our food choices, whether it’s through taxes or regulatory burdens on farmers. Ultimately, who it hurts is those in poverty and the food insecure. It makes groceries more expensive. The elite don’t mind, but it hurts our nation’s children.

“We need to protect our freedom of choice to farm and to eat the affordable, safe food we grow in the U.S.”

Radke’s presentation is free and open to the public. It will be held the main arena at the Winter Show building in Valley City.

It is held in conjunction with the 83rd annual North Dakota Winter Show, the Dakotas’ longest running agricultural show. It began in1937 and includes a concert by Jerrod Niemann (Feb. 29), a ranch rodeo (March 5); horse and pony pulls (March 5); livestock shows (March 1); a high school rodeo (March 6) and a PRCA rodeo (March 6-7).

For more information, visit the website at www.northdakotawintershow.com or call 701.845.1401.