Over the past years, these words have had many different impacts on my life. Throughout my time as an FFA officer at various levels, the FFA creed fueled my passion for investing in the future of agriculture, primarily through the future leaders of the FFA Organization. Later in my life, my belief in this can be seen by enrolling in agriculture education at Cal Poly, and investing my education in this industry. Today, living out my belief in the agricultural industry through my actions, took on a new form.
In my opinion, just as important as training and equipping future leaders of the ag industry is effective communication with those who ultimately have a huge influence over the success and future of agriculture. Jim Brock, one of the individuals who made Cal Poly Ag Communications possible once said that the general public and media negatively effected agriculture not because of bias, but because they are ignorant of the fact and realities of agriculture. What makes this statement profound in my mind is that Brock, knew this to be true over 25 years ago. Over the past 20 years the conditions for agriculture in the media and public policy has not gotten any better. Governmental regulation like Prop 2 and a increased presence in the media by HSUS and PETA. The 2% of our population that not only provide food and fiber for the United States, but also the world, has not been properly connected to the public.
Today, students dedicated to spreading the message of agriculture, worked across the nation. WTF (Where's The Food, Without The Farmer) Day hit the nation. I represented agriculture with seven other Cal Poly students at UC Santa Barbra, a campus without an agricultural program. The eight of us, had many conversations and provided ways for university students entering the consumer market to identify where the final product in a supermarket actually come from.
