Dirt Road Dietitian Brings Agriculture and Nutrition Together

By: Kelsea Forward

Sheri Glazier, also known as the Dirt Road Dietitian, is an Oklahoma farmer and rancher, as well as a registered dietitian. She combines her lifelong connection to agriculture with her love for food and nutrition to help people understand where their food comes from.

The Dirt Road Dietitian recently sat down with American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall to talk about the ways people misunderstand agriculture and how she shares her agriculture story through food.

Glazier explained some of the reasons why there is so much conflicting information about what should go into a healthy diet.

“It’s not very shiny or sexy to eat a balanced diet with 75% fruits and vegetable and a quarter protein. That’s not really that fun, and so there’s just a lot of misinformation out there,” she said.

The two also discussed how cultural upbringing can impact each person’s and family’s perspectives on food.

“We really underappreciate the generational impact that our families have on our food culture, which ultimately impacts how we think about food and nutrition,” Glazier said.

President Duvall mentioned that not many people think about agriculture when they cook and eat their food.

“A lot of people go to the kitchen and start cooking their meals and have absolutely no thoughts of what a farmer does or how science and technology is involved in growing that food,” he said.

Glazier added that it is important for farmers to share their stories to bridge the gap between food, nutrition and agriculture.

“It may seem second nature because this is what you wake up and do every day,” she said. “But if you don’t tell someone what you do, someone else could be writing a very different story for you.”

Glazier is a fifth-generation farmer. She and her husband are proud to pass on their farming heritage and a strong nutrition foundation to their two children.

To learn more about Sheri Glazier and her work, visit The Dirt Road Dietitian.

Kelsea Forward is the Communications assistant at AFBF.