Alert visitors to rural America will note a proliferation of bumper stickers proclaiming, "If you criticize the farmer, don't talk with your mouth full," and "Farming is everybody's bread and butter." In an era when many farmers feel that market forces and government policies threaten the family farm, in a time when too many people think milk, bread, and meat come from the store, these combative and pithy slogans stress the fundamental importance of farming and food.