Mike Rowe, the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel’s Emmy-nominated series Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, will deliver the key-note address to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 92nd annual meeting on January 10, 2011, in Atlanta.
More than 5,000 Farm Bureau members from across the nation will gather in Atlanta January 9-12 to hear from distinguished leaders and participate in a grassroots policy setting process that will guide the American Farm Bureau through 2011.
A champion of farmers and ranchers and other hard-working Americans, Rowe has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on more than 250 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid. Rowe knows how to get his hands dirty and has worked in just about every industry, including agriculture jobs.
Some of Rowe’s Dirty Jobs have included apprenticing as a big animal veterinarian, cow feed lot worker, dairy cow midwife, rice plantation worker, egg producer, and a farmer for goats, pigs, turkeys, potatoes, and sugar cane.
While Dirty Jobs showcases some of America’s toughest occupations, Rowe’s work doesn’t stop at the job site. He’s launched a website called mikeroweWORKS.com, where skilled labor and hard work are celebrated in the hope of calling attention to the steady decline in the skilled trades and dwindling enrollments in trade schools and technical colleges.
In further support of farming, Mike is doggedly highlighting the issues facing America’s farming community through his website and specifically on his blog The Future of Farming.