This edition of Ozarks Farm & Neighbor is one of my favorites to put together each year.
The Youth in Agriculture edition highlights young people and their agricultural experiences. Some are following in the footsteps of generations before, others are foraging a new path, but both are important for the future of our industry.
I have a young cousin who is about 10 and he is 100 percent farm boy. He can tell you about every tractor on their farm, and he can likely run every one of them. At a recent fair, he told me they had to switch out the tractor they were baling with because of a hydraulic leak, which didn’t make his dad too happy. Still, you have to do what you have to do to get the hay in because it was likely going to rain, he said, so they used the tractor they rake with to bale the last of the field that was down.
Kids like this young man are who people see as the future of farming, and they are correct, but there are more and more youngsters, kids who aren’t from farming or ranching backgrounds, exploring agriculture.
The National FFA Organization announced earlier this month that membership in the youth organization has topped a record 1 million. Utah and Florida are seeing more than a 100 percent increase in membership. Utah’s membership is up 172.7 percent from last year, while Florida’s membership has jumped 116.9 percent.
Not all of those new FFA members will go into production agriculture or an agriculture-related field in the future. Still, they are getting a look at the industry and, hopefully, getting a better understanding of it.
There are many hurdles for young and new farmers. There’s access to land and operation capital and learning how to manage the farm/ranch effectively. Agriculture isn’t easy; it’s expensive, and anyone who thinks they will get rich quickly is greatly mistaken.
For most of my life, I have heard the older generations say agriculture has no future. I often wonder if that’s why there was such a migration away from the farm; young people were discouraged from the start. Granted, most folks have to have town jobs these days for one reason or another, but I can understand where some might feel pushed away from their roots, roots they wanted to hold on to. For those who wanted to return to the farm or start their own operation, it was too late, or they couldn’t afford to take the plunge.
This country has a future in agriculture; everyone just has to find their own road. I hope these young people we have profiled in this edition, as well as other young people, get the encouragement every young person needs to believe in themselves and keep reaching to achieve their goals, whether on the farm or in some other industry.
Young people venturing into agriculture are not only the future of our industry but the future of everyone who eats. Remember the adage, no farm, no food? It needs to be changed up a bit and no farmers, no farms, no food.
And that’s no good for anyone.
Julie Turner-Crawford is a native of Dallas County, Mo., where she grew up on her family’s farm. She is a graduate of Missouri State University. To contact Julie, call 1-866-532-1960 or by email at [email protected].
