National Farm-City Week, 1997

Proclamation 7053 of November 21, 1997

National Farm-City Week, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

When Americans sit down to a meal each day, we
sometimes take for granted the quality and variety of
the food we eat. Our grocery stores, supermarkets, and
restaurants offer us an enormous volume and selection
of fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, and other
food items, but we too often forget the hardworking men
and women whose skill and effort put that food on our
tables.

Strengthening our economy and providing food for people
around the world, American agriculture is a leading
global industry and a source of pride for our Nation.
While producing an abundance of safe and affordable
food and fiber, America's farmers and ranchers also
provide a rich source of jobs in the United States.
American agriculture employs more than 21 million
people today, and agriculture-related industries
continue to expand, pumping a trillion dollars into the
American economy each year.

During the earliest days of our Nation, most of the
crops farmers grew were used to feed their families or
local consumers. Today, through advances in technology
and marketing and through partnerships with
agribusiness industries, research scientists, carriers,
shippers, and retail distributors, America's farmers
produce enough food and fiber to help meet the needs of
people around the globe.

This week, as Americans gather with family and friends
around the dinner table to give thanks for their many
blessings, it is fitting that we count among those
blessings the vital farm-city partnerships that have
done so much to improve the quality of our lives. Rural
and urban communities, working together to make the
most of America's rich agricultural resources, continue
to contribute immensely to the health and well-being of
our people and to the vigor of our national economy.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim November 21 through November
27, 1997, as National Farm-City Week. I call upon
citizens in urban and rural areas throughout the Nation
to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of all
those who, working together, produce an abundance of
agricultural products that strengthen and enrich our
country.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-second.