Spring arrives Saturday. That day has also been set as National Ag Day by the Agriculture Council of America.

Ag Day coincides each year with the first day of spring. The council designates the week within which it falls as National Ag Week. This important time to celebrate agriculture began March 14.

One goal of Ag Day is to recognize the contribution agriculture makes in the lives of all of us. These include:

• how food and fiber products are produced,

• the essential role of agriculture in the economy,

• the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.

According to the ACA, each of this country’s farmers feeds more than 144 people – up from 25 people just four decades ago. That’s very good news for Americans, but also for hungry people everywhere.

Farm exports help offset trade deficits in other areas of the economy. In fact, agricultural products are this country’s No. 1 export. Production includes:

• 46 percent of the world’s soybeans,

• 41 percent of its corn, and

• 13 percent of the planet’s wheat.

Americans spend less on food than people in any other developed nation. Americans spend only 2 percent of disposable income on meat and poultry. As recently as 1970, it was 4.1 percent.

With the planet’s population projected to grow to 7.5 billion by 2020, people everywhere have good reason to give thanks for the magnificent success story that is American agriculture.