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Young ambassadors for agriculture

Commentary.

Kids are back in school or will soon be and the air is beginning to smell more and more like autumn. Where did the summer go?

The Brownfield Ag News team has been busy these past few weeks covering numerous events, including state fairs throughout the Midwest. We all find great satisfaction reporting about events and activities in which young people involved in agriculture are featured. Because we hear so many horror stories about “bad seeds” that commit heinous crimes and become drug addicts and car thieves and worse in their teen years it is especially gratifying for us to have the medium to tell the stories of so many young people who choose a path that leads to a more promising future.

Today, those young people are often times challenged to defend agriculture.  Modern agriculture is not always perceived as the wholesome family farming business that it used to be. It matters not the size of your farm or the species you raise, there are those who do not believe we should be free to raise animals for food. There are those who believe we should not be allowed to own animals. There are those who do not believe farmers should be free to use modern tools and technology.

Those who do not eat meat and do not want us to eat meat are perpetuating the myth that all who raise livestock are “bad.” Our animal husbandry and welfare practices are being challenged. Some radicals, with no basic knowledge of livestock production, are pointing accusatory fingers at us and smearing mud on our reputations as stock men and women. During these frustrating times, it is refreshing to walk through the livestock barns at the fairs or other livestock expositions and see boys and girls brushing their heifers, or offering their gilt a drink of water. That sort of behavior tells me they know how to build trust with the animal. That’s the true heart of a stockman. These are the stories we love to tell.

Fewer kids grow up on farms today than in the previous generation. Without daily exposure to farm life, it is easier for young people to believe the “twisted truths” being told about the way American farmers treat the land, air, water and animals.  Your child or grandchild, niece or nephew, or you and your friends have the opportunity while exhibiting livestock to reach other young people without an agricultural background or understanding.

Young people in this country are our finest natural resource, and our future. If we give them the opportunity today, they will be ready when it is time for them to lead us and join the team that will feed the world.  If we teach them today, they will carry on that love of the land, air, water and livestock instilled in them at an early age.

  • We will hope those kids that showed their animals at the fairs have the opportunity to continue living the farm life that many of us love. It makes me sad to see how many of the farm homes are gone. Those homes had families with children and neighbors that helped and cared about each other. We have a huge job, promoting our farms and what we do and why, hoping that people will understand and believe us.

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