Thursday, March 20, 2014

No FFA, No future?





I have been following via social media that California wants to cut off funding for agriculture education programs in their schools. Even though I don't live in California, I live about 10 miles from the Northern California border and am familiar with the small town FFA chapters around through my travels and fairs that I have attended in Siskiyou and and Modoc counties which include the Siskiyou Golden Fair in Yreka CA and Tulelake/Butte Valley fair in Tulelake CA which is about 2 hrs from where I currently live.

So why is this sticking in my craw because I don't live in California and therefore shouldn't be concerned about it??

Very simple, I was an FFA member at Phoenix High School in Phoenix, Oregon (yes there is such a place) before I switched schools and joined, I was on the verge of dropping out of my old high school because I was bullied and really school at the time didn't interest me. Hard to believe now, but it is true.

I switched schools and joined FFA after finding out what it was all about and since I had been riding horses and interested in livestock for years, I joined up and never looked back!

During my years as an FFA member, I saw many places that I'd thought I'd never see (I mean i would have never saw Kentucky or the South any other way if I hadn't gone to National Convention in 2003) I learned how to work as a team with my fellow members, and a lot more about agriculture. Needless to say, the urge to drop out of school went away!

Most important, it helped me discover that agriculture was the career path that I wanted to follow after I got out of high school. After graduation in 2004, I headed to the East Side of Oregon a spitting distance away from the Idaho border to attend college at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario Oregon which among other things, is a big agricultural community and also the alma mater of both of my parents!

I spent about 4 yrs attending college and despite a few minor set backs, graduated in 2010 with a degree in Ranch Management.


The point I am trying to make here is that Agriculture Education programs are important for our future of agriculture, if we are going to feed the world then we need a lot more hands to help. It also bridges the gap between rural and urban, educating kids who think milk comes from Walmart. Among these things, it also teaches public speaking which is vital if you are going to go out into the world of work.

Yes, drama club, chess club, and sports programs are important too, I too was in choir and on the dance team. But how are we going to build more hands to help feed the world without Agriculture Education? without 4-H and FFA programs it will be next to impossible in my opinion. It also gives farm kids a place to gather where they feel safe from judgement and misunderstanding from the more 'urban' groups at school.


So, please California and other states, keep these programs in our schools. Our future depends on it.

Me in the Blue Jacket, 2004!

1 comment:

  1. Support your position on saving Agricultural Education in schools. 4-H and FFA need all the financial support they can get to keep doing what they do so well.

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