Why We Need More Youth to Speak Up About Ag
It doesn't have to be eloquent. It doesn't need to be deep. It doesn't even have to be properly written to make an impact.
But, you do have to speak up.
When our 9-year-old daughter showed me her opinion piece for a class assignment this morning, my heart melted. Her task was to write about something she has an opinion about -- and one thing is for sure, this girl has an opinion about pigs. She cannot comprehend how some kids may not share that same passion for working with pigs. I realize her viewpoint is limited, but I applaud her desire to share her passion and share her opinion.
The reality is she's going to have far more reach amongst her peers than I will.
It got me thinking about the valuable role of voices from her generation. It starts with conversations with her friends standing in the lunch line about how she cares for her pigs. It branches out to chats with her teachers about why she wants to spend her summers in the barn. It extends to the soccer field about why she likes to eat bacon and where it comes from.
I am glad she doesn't let her doubts about her ability to share the perfect message stop her from sharing the message.
Last fall, my 16-year-old daughter competed at the National FFA AgriScience Fair with her social systems project on the meat preferences of Generation Z, which includes people from age 10 to 22 in 2022. She received surveys from 1,186 young people about 11 food values such as price, safety, appearance, taste and nutritional content. She also asked questions about the influence of food labels on consumer decisions.
She's passionate about helping connect the dots about modern livestock production for her generation which she believes is at a disadvantage because each generation is getting further removed from what goes in farming today. That's why she continues to find ways to talk about what goes on behind the barn doors to help her friends, classmates and teachers understand all of the ways agriculture -- and especially pig farmers -- feed the world.
I’m always looking for stories about how young people are using their voice to talk about agriculture. Like Audrey Bishop's passion to understand how antibiotics being released into the environment by humans could affect plants and crop yields, or Dalton Humphrey's desire to find better ways to nutritionally support the sow and her piglets during lactation, or James DeRouchey's dedication to help introduce youth interested in showing swine to the “real world” swine industry and the technology advancements that have been made.
"The vast majority of my non-agriculture friends have no idea what a commercial farm looks like or how it operates. Even knowing something as simple as what a sow, gilt, boar and barrow refers to is foreign to them. Most people underestimate the importance of the swine industry and its relevance. When many people think of meat, their first thoughts are generally beef or chicken. Pork plays a critical role in this world as well and it is often overlooked," DeRouchey said in a PORK Week article.
Not only do their voices inspire me to do more, but they also give me hope for the future of agriculture.
As parents and youth supporters, we've got to keep encouraging them to use their very important voice to tell agriculture's story from their perspective. It doesn't matter if they come from a long line of pork producers or generations of corn farmers -- all it takes is a willingness to learn, to share and to speak up about agriculture.
Here's to all of the good work being done in classrooms around the country, to kids speaking up about their farms and livestock projects, and ultimately opening the door to greater understanding of what farmers do every day to feed the world.
Never doubt your voice matters.
Read More:
Mental Toughness: Make the Most of What Life Throws at You
Tell Your Story: If We All Do A Little, No One Will Have To Do A Lot
