munitions factory . To the federal government , farmers were homefront warriors who produced essential war materials and helped America achieve Freedom from Want . As Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard told Congress in September 1942 , “ Food is just as much a weapon in this war as guns .” But the caption for Collins ’ s portrait of Raymond Newswanger reflects the man ’ s own opinion – and that of his church – that farm work was not necessarily war work . It was simply the traditional way of life for Lancaster County Mennonites . 15
According to his descendants , Moses Zimmerman participated in Farmer at War not to promote participation in the war but to promote the farmer ’ s mission of feeding the masses . Shortly before her death in March 2011 , Zimmerman ’ s last surviving child , 95-year-old Ruth Zimmerman Hershey , confirmed that her father was considered a progressive farmer and was the “ biggest dairy farmer ” in his neighborhood , facts that help explain why the Office of War Information chose Moses Zimmerman to represent “ The American Farmer ” in this film . Hershey also noted , however , that her father was a prominent member of the Masonville Mennonite Church , located near his Lancaster County farm home , and that he taught Sunday school there . His congregation even placed his name “ in the lot ” for a possible calling to serve his church as a minister . Zimmerman was thus a Mennonite in good standing and remained so even after his participation in the film . In fact , his identity as a devout Mennonite was 15
Rachel Waltner Goossen , Women Against the Good War : Conscientious Objection and Gender on the American Home Front , 1941-1947 ( Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press , 1997 ), p . 87 .
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