A couple years ago a fellow farmer, a school board member in a nearby district, mentioned that the school superintendent had made a derogatory comment about the students in the agriculture program.
“We have to put them somewhere,” he said, in essence, about the academically slow students in the high school. The farmer could read between the lines what the superintendent was thinking about farmers and the education they require.
I hope that superintendent reads this column. Farming is a very intellectually challenging and rewarding career. To me, dairying is the ultimate challenge. I apply just about all of the disciplines I learned in high school, college, and the school of hard knocks, every day, to each new problem as it presents itself. I’ve been tired. I’ve been stressed. I’ve been broke. But I’ve never been bored or intellectually unchallenged.
We need the brightest and best we have in our agriculture classes. Here’s why.
The longstanding perception is that anybody can farm. Farmers don’t require any formal education. If you can’t get a job elsewhere, you can always farm. Fifty years ago, there might have been some truth in these statements. That is not so now.
A farmer needs a skill set no different than that needed for any other business. What is unique about dairying is the multiplicity of disciplines one needs to integrate to make a profitable farm. To prosper, dairy farmers need to know agronomy, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, employee management, marketing, business management and mechanics. A farmer needs to know where to find information to make good decisions. Knowing where and how to access a team of advisers allows a farmer to apply new technology and information effectively.
In 2012, the dairy industry contributed $43.4 billion to Wisconsin’s economy. We had 9,900 dairy farms then in Wisconsin. On average, each dairy farm stimulated $4.4 million of activity in Wisconsin’s economy. There are lot of people who never set a foot on a farm yet benefit from dairy production. I would like to see kids who have “no interest” in farming be exposed to agriculture in high school. Ag classes are for everyone, not just kids wanting to farm.
Wisconsin fourth-graders study their state in social studies and generally have a unit on agriculture. Let’s think what universal study of agriculture in high school could lead to.
Young students would study and involve themselves first hand in the practical application of their science, technology, engineering and math training. Some would discover a career path in agriculture they hadn’t known; others discover the value of STEM in the agricultural career they are already interested in. Students will develop an understanding of agriculture around them, and realize the abundance of career paths in agriculture. Those already interested in agriculture will realize they need to apply themselves in their STEM classes in order to own or be employed by a successful farm in the future.
When I am introduced as a veterinarian, people look up to me. When I am introduced as a farmer, however, some people look down at me. I’ve practiced as a veterinarian, and I have been a dairy farmer. I am proud to be a veterinarian, but I am prouder that I’m a dairyman. Few people appreciate the effort and diversity of knowledge required to survive as a farmer. Do you need to rethink what you think about farmers?
Paul Larson’s rural Mindoro farm is home to 200 Jersey cows. As the number of people with farm ties dwindles, Larson writes to help consumers be better informed about how their food is produced.
Source: Lacrosse Tribune
