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25th anniversaries should be celebrated

I received an invitation to my 25-year high school class reunion this week. My Brownfield Promotions Coordinator wasn’t even born in 1980 when I graduated from Winchester High School. The newest addition to my farm broadcast team was born in 1982. I am 2 years older than my mother was when I graduated from high school. (I have to stop thinking this way or I will begin to feel “old.”)

I am very much looking forward to spending time with the classmates I grew up with in the farming community in west central Illinois.

On a much sadder note, a program that would have celebrated its’ 25th year has been put to death due to budget constraints.

The IL Dept of Agriculture will no longer be able to offer the Illinois Agriculture Youth Institute. The USDA grant that had helped fund the program ran out several years ago and, according to Delayne Reeves in the Illinois Department of Agriculture Bureau of Marketing and Promotion, much of the funding in past years had come in the form of donations. She told me the donations required to fund the institute were “insurmountable” so it was time to call it quits.

I did not participate in this program as a youth, but I did spend several days with the Institute back in the 90’s when I was Farm Director at WTAX in Springfield. These kids were top-shelf, and many have gone on to successful careers, making a difference in the state’s agriculture industry. As one former participant explained, “IAYI is essentially a week-long summer camp for farm kids that are in high school. They’d tour Illinois’ major agribusinesses and Ag Schools at the universities to help them set some goals for the next few years. They received training in leadership, teamwork and communications. It was meant as a tool to show farm kids what they can do to stay active in Illinois Agriculture.”

In the words of Agriculture Director Chuck Hartke, in a news release calling for applications to the 2004 program, “The Illinois Agriculture Youth Institute is an extremely valuable resource that gives students an inside look at the careers available in Illinois’ number one industry. One in four jobs in Illinois is related to agriculture. Taking this opportunity with IAYI exposes students to a wide range of agriculture careers from farming to corporate opportunities with worldwide companies like Archer Daniels Midland and DuPont.”

In 24 years, 1500 of Illinois’ finest youth graduated from the Illinois Agricultural Youth Institute. Delayne, you and the rest of the crew who put this program together for 24 years touched a lot of lives. You gave these young people insight into the much larger world outside of their communities. You made a difference. Thank you. Those 2 young people on my staff that I mentioned earlier attended Ag Youth Institutes hosted by state departments of agriculture. That experience impacted both of their lives significantly. I believe that experience was one that helped mold them into candidates with the skill sets I was looking for when I hired them.

During the 2005 World Congress of the World Ag Forum held this week in St. Louis, Forum Advisory Board Chairman Jim Bolger pointed out that global food production will be faced with an additional 2.6 billion people in the next 45 years. “The world’s response, I suggest, will either show the dark side of human nature, with greed, fear and intolerance dominating and guiding public policy,” said Bolger to the international audience, “or show openness and generosity in searching for answers.”

I’m a little curious, since your governor rolled out a “pro-farmer” plan to renovate and revitalize the state’s agricultural industry, how he is going to support the state’s agribusiness and grow it when he can’t even provide support programs to 50 of the state’s youngest farmers? With an extra 2.6 billion people in the world to feed in the next 45 years, right now might be a good time to invest in the future of food production in Illinois