Get Almanac's Daily Updates Extended Forecasts Where to Buy Contact Us

National Farmer's Day 2025

Happy national farmers day illustration, cows, tractor and farm

Thank a Farmer Today!

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

National Farmer’s Day, October 12, is a day to honor hardworking farmers. Find out more about this day, as well as longtime harvest festivals from around this time—from “Harvest Home” to Michaelmas. Plus, we suggest a few ways to support your local farmer (if you wish to).

What Is National Farmer’s Day?

This is a day to honor and thank all of the hardworking farmers and ranchers who plow, sow, grow, and harvest to feed our nation. We especially rely on farmers to get fresh food on our tables during these uncertain times. Let’s pay tribute to the men, women, and families who put food in the grocery stores and on our tables every day. 

Farming and Harvest Traditions

October 12 is a fitting day for National Farmer’s Day since it’s near the end of harvesttime. Today and through the years, there have been a variety of festivities and ways to celebrate the harvest—and not all of them are on the 12th.

Read Next
  • For example, there is a town in Louisiana that holds an Old Farmer’s Day festival on October 21 and 22 to honor harvest and farming customs from before mechanization—from sheepshearing to blacksmithing to biscuit making! 
  • Some New England towns still celebrate “Harvest Home” suppers or festivals. Traditionally, this was a way to celebrate the harvest and give thanks for the bounty of the fields and orchards.

Many traditions connected to “bringing in the harvest” date back to England, Ireland, and Scotland.

  • Ever heard of Lammas Day (August 1)? This day marked the beginning of the harvest and especially celebrated the first wheat crop. The word “lammas” comes from the Old English hlaf, “loaf,” and maesse, “mass” or “feast.” Learn more. Much lore is associated with this day, including this proverb: “After Lammas Day, corn ripens as much by night as by day.”
  • “Harvest Home” was an ancient English harvest festival that was celebrated on the last day of harvest in late September by singing, shouting, and decorating the village with boughs. The very last sheaf of corn, which represented the spirit of the field, was saved and woven into a “corn dolly” to be planted the following spring.
corn-dollies_full_width.jpg
Corn dollies, a harvest tradition. In ancient times, it was believed that the spirit of the corn lived among the crop.
  • Michaelmas (September 20) was a customary day to harvest crops and sell the surplus. Traders would march their geese to the famous Nottingham (England) market to be sold just in time for the Michaelmas celebrations that marked the end of harvest. According to records, some 20,000 geese would be seen wandering through town. Everyone ate goose at Michaelmas to bring prosperity, and many farmers included “a goose fit for the lord’s dinner” with their rent payments. Today, the “Nottingham Goose Fair” is Europe’s oldest and largest traveling fair. Learn more about Michaelmas.

image82_full_width.jpg

How to Support Your Local Farmer

Supporting your local farmer is easy! Here are a few ideas:

  • Buy fruits and vegetables from farmers’ markets. Many small farms sell directly to the consumer through farmers’ markets. You’ll meet the local farmers who grew your food and learn about their farming practices; and you can buy the freshest produce, eggs, and meat. Check out this farmers’ markets directory.
  • Visit pick-your-own farms. They’ll supply everything from berries to vegetables to apples to pumpkins. There are “you-pick” flower farms in many towns. Here’s a web site which lists the pick-your-own farmers in your area.
  • Consider investing in a CSA farm share next year (CSA stands for “community-supported agriculture”). Local farmers will give you a basket of freshly picked food every week for a true farm-to-table experience. Find a local CSA.
  • Keep your eyes and ears out for local small-town festivals. From persimmon festivals to pawpaw festivals to garlic festivals, you’re supporting farming communities. 
ayers_brook_photo-bychip-natvig_miles-hooper-photo_full_width.jpg
Miles Hooper (with his son) from Ayers Brook Goat Dairy in Randolph, Vermont. Credit: Chip Natvig

Where does food come from? It’s not the grocery store! Meet some of the farmers who grow your food.

Holidays
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

More Like This

Comments

<span>Kitty</span> Wed, 10/12/2022 - 09:06
My Father was a farmer. No one realizes, unless you are a farmer, how hard they work. Up before dawn 3:00am 4:00am to get to the farm and start work in the dark. They don't come home until after it turns dark. Forget about an 8 hour work day! Look at a farmer's hands and you will see how hard they work. Farmer's teach their children a hard work ethic that lives with them for life. He taught me to be independent and safe. My father was the best father a child could ever have.
<span>Frances Gale</span> Wed, 10/12/2022 - 07:42
My husband and I are farmers in Idaho. I am seriously alarmed by all the good farm ground being subdivided. 99 percent of these people in the subdivisions, through no fault of their own, are not self sufficient. I am worried that we won't have enough farm land left to feed America with this overdevelopment. I am not against subdivisions, just don't use good farm ground for them. Nothing spells national disaster like food insecurity. Save American farms and farmers! I personally don't want my food coming from Mexico or China!