Agricultrual Education

When an elementary student mistakes a cow for a pig, there is a problem. This agriculturally illiterate child will soon be an agriculturally illiterate adult. No one would purchase a car without looking up the safety report and mileage, yet making blind decisions each week at the grocery store or farmer's market is socially acceptable.  If organic foods are good enough for the Goslings (from the popular television show John and Kate Plus 8) then it's good enough for me. Even the Chicago Times has a word to say about how we do agriculture, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-02/news/ct-met-eating-local-20100901_1_farmers-markets-food-stamps-locavore-challenge! But these are blog posts for another day...

My question is: Whose responsibility is it to take on the incredibly important task of educating the public? The agricultural industry is becoming more and more technically savvy (and I don't just mean GPS systems in tractors), utilizing twitter, facebook, and yes, even blogs to communicate our problems, successes, and passion... but who exactly are we reaching through these mediums? One must consider if the average mom or dad is going to look up "Agriculture" Tweets to learn more about where their family's meal is coming from. Especially, considering that there is always an episode of Gray's Anatomy or the highlights from yesterday's game waiting to be viewed.

Now is the time to use technology to our advantage. The Department of Agriculture spent $65 million on the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food program, but what I suggest is that the public can know their farmer personally through venues like Twitter. The general public may not realize that the same rainstorm delaying the peewee baseball game is revitalizing farmers' precious crops or that it's okay when the corn gets all brown, that's when its actually ready to be harvested. These are the questions that can be solved through social media.

There is a big difference between reading about what a farmer is doing in a publication and interacting with a true farmer online. By involving the public in this way, we can communicate our stories simply and directly. More than that, we can give them an opportunity to engage in Agriculture.