By Connor Hultman, previous Noble Ruler of Alpha Gamma Rho chapter at Iowa State University

In the Fall of 2020, the men of Alpha Gamma Rho at Iowa State University set out to raise as much money as they could for the agriculturalists of the United States that make the world go around. After a few years of trade tensions with China that lowered grain commodity prices and the summer of 2020 that brought both a widespread drought and the now infamous derecho across Central Iowa, we understood the sleepless nights and worse case scenarios that were going through farmers’ minds. Because of this, we paired up with WRNL, an Iowa State fan community, who in the past have set themselves up to help farmers through their Actually Helping Farmers (AHF) initiative. Through this joint partnership, we formed Aggers Helping Farmers.  Through this program, we sold close to 80 t-shirts, handed out over 450 meals to local farmers at harvest time, and donated more than $2,600 to the Farm Crisis Center. We chose the Farm Crisis Center because we understand the need for the Farm Aid Hotline and National Suicide Hotline that the Farm Crisis Center offers for farmers in need. Because Alpha Gamma Rho’s membership is entirely made up of agriculturalists, we have seen first hand the negative impacts that can affect farmers, and knew we should take action to help lessen this epidemic farmers face.

In the future, we hope to pair up with agribusiness companies such as Corteva, Syngenta, Iowa Select, and John Deere, just to name a few, to receive sponsorship money through them that will in turn be donated back to the Farm Crisis Center. WIth Alpha Gamma Rho’s connections to large agribusiness companies, and these companies’ desire to reward farmers for their hard work and business partnerships, we have a goal of raising $25,000 for the Farm Crisis Center next year.


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