Feeding the Future...Slower?

The facts have been in front of our faces for a long time, yet sometimes it seems they don't sink in until it becomes personal.

Since I was in high school, I have tried to keep up with what is currently happening in the field of agriculture- policy changes, how weather is affecting the current crops, trends in the cattle market, international initiatives, and how the challenges of our food system are being tackled, etc. So I nerd out and do a lot of reading.

But I have never wanted to just be a spectator of the agriculture industry. Finally being able to take first steps toward that goal by buying a little chunk of land with outbuildings and some potential is exciting for Lance and I. As we think about our plans for starting our very own agriculture operation, discussing inputs we will need to buy, what equipment will be most useful and cost effective for us, and how our operation will function, it's a little nerve racking to read some of the articles I read about trends in agriculture today.

For centuries, agriculture has marched to the beat of "more efficiency."  This has been, and still is out of necessity. The whole idea of agriculture was born out of the nomadic people of old needing a less taxing lifestyle than expending countless calories, constantly chasing their food. And so we began to cultivate and domesticate. And a few herbs and berries and the occasional livestock animal turned into aqueducts and tillage equipment and technology. When we were finally not chasing our food anymore, not everyone needed to be involved in food production which led to the development of many great things like philosophy and art and engineering and Iphones. Agriculture is the reason for so much progress that we can't imagine life without today.

But today, many consumers call for farmers to step away from efficiency. In March, Whole Foods announced it will begin using slower growing breeds of chicken for meat production. These slower growing breeds will take 23% longer to reach market weight. (Read more details here)

To those in agriculture production, this is a bit scary. Now I know not everyone shops at Whole Foods and I would like to believe there is a place at the table for all types of agriculture. But between the articles I read and some of the comments I see on blogs and videos of what affects food decisions for shoppers, its a little nerve racking to think this could be the beginning of a total change in the market. Will the cattle my husband and I plan to raise even be profitable if the consumer wants them to grow 23% slower?

Doing things in a less efficient manner is a bit of a mind boggler for many in agriculture production. There are so many pieces of the puzzle to consider- all the way from large scale things like environmental impact and using the least amount of resources to produce the most food (aka efficiency), to more personal, yet make or break things, like trying to balance our own checkbook. Not to mention the fact that this planet has a growing population that I don't particularly want to see go hungry.

So farmers/ranchers, how do you make production decisions with consumer decisions in mind? 
And fellow food purchasers- do you want slower growing food?

Reflecting On My Life as an Ag Teacher

     I have been wanting to say something about my year as an ag teacher for a long time. It is a tough subject for me, mainly because there is so much I don’t understand about the experience I had.  It was a year of ups and downs as I tried to learn how to best do my job while keeping up with standards, kid’s lives, parent input, and endless activities and last minute changes.  Being a teacher pushed me to my edge every single day and made me realize just how little I understand in this world.  So after a very confusing experience, this is what I settled on sharing from it.  

      I spent a year as an ag teacher, and I’ll put it bluntly: I struggled.  I desperately wanted to create an experience for my students similar to the one I was lucky enough to have as an FFA member. But I was disappointed when some (most) of my students didn’t want it.  How could they not share my passion?  How could they not recognize what an opportunity was in front of them?  I wondered what I was doing wrong.  How could I reach more of my kids?

     The answer is I don’t know.  Ha- you thought I had an answer, didn’t you.  Well I’m coming to find out, there are a lot more questions than there will ever be answers in this world.  But I have been out of the education circle now for about 4 months, and I think I have a little piece of it figured out. 

I happened to come across a Ted Talk video (It's amazing. Watch here if you have time. He compares education to ag so it's a winner.) from Ken Robinson (super genius) and he made a statement that left me pondering: 

“Life is not linear. It is organic.” 

     While we can look at life as a series of steps, a go to school, grow up, get a job, get married, have kids, kind of progression, that isn’t how it really happens.  Think of all the times you look back on something and think, “wow, that was about the most roundabout way I could have done that.” Or, “I wish I had majored in this instead.” Or even something as simple as, “I really should have eaten breakfast this morning.”

     We don’t move linear most of the time.  We try.  We aim for efficient, straight lines.  But usually life gets in the way.  And education is the same.  I expected my students to take steps up a ladder.  I expected my greenhands to find something that interested them and pursue it, my sophomores to be studying to do better the next year, and my seniors to be devoted to putting a finishing touch on their high school careers. 

     But that is linear.  Some of my seniors had not found something they cared enough about to devote themselves to.  Some of my greenhands had found something so inspiring, they were willing to work tirelessly to achieve more.  And some of my students were just trying to stay awake.

     I pushed my students relentlessly to be at the stage I thought they should be at, based on their age.  But now I know that there are some 8^th graders who are more mature than college students.  There are some juniors who are terrified they never will find their passion, or worse, haven’t ever even considered that there is more to life than waiting for the weekend to get here.

     I think what made ag classes inspire me as a high school student is the fact that they were organic. Yes we had to jump through the hoops and build from plant tissues to plant nutrients to plant chemistry.  But we also got to take a day off of school and go out in a farmer’s pasture and look at his soil and meet 150 kids that we didn’t see every day.  And that was exciting and different and organic.  And when things are exciting and different is when we find our passions.    

     Students don’t move an inch up a learning growth chart each week.  But when something inspires them, when something organic happens, they jump miles. Looking back, I would have been a much more successful teacher had I thought like this.  Looking forward, I find myself much more at ease, no longer pressuring myself to continue to climb the rungs of a ladder, but realizing that the roads we take sometimes wind. I know my time in Hill City was a valuable step in my own path and one that will affect my own course forever. I learned lessons I didn't even know I needed to learn.

     I hope my students are enjoying their own paths, no matter how much they twist and turn along the way.  Because that is really what it is all about- taking the curves as they are thrown at you and trying to learn something along the way.

Not Enough Hours in a Day

I'm fairly certain the best way to manage a blog is not by forgetting you have one for the better part of a year.  That being said, life has been a whirlwind- after talking to my mom this morning, and hearing how my dad is swamped at work with 4 fewer employees than normal and how my grandma is back to working 2 part time jobs again, I'm beginning to wonder if life ever does allow for a breath of fresh air.

This Sunday morning, I don't have any quips on the current things happening in agriculture or new ideas to make fun of my own attempts at being a human being.  Frankly, life has just been too overwhelming these past months for that sort of thing.  What I do have is an update on the happenings of my life of late- mundane or otherwise.

My last post was in November, so we'll pick up there.  The big parts of my life since then have been:

National Ag Ambassador Team: training conference in Florida gave me a chance to see good friends.

Ag Fest: Organizing a campus wide event promoting agriculture- most-fun-of-my-life, least-sleep-of-my-life kind of deal.  And hey, I got to make Reagan kiss a goat- so it's pretty much a win for all.  You can see the cool video my friend Paige made to see the highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6GmRCSuq8A

Rural Grocery Initiative: I took a job at the Center for Engagement and Community Development (CECD) after I fell in love with my rural sociology class.  This initiative built an online tool kit which provides rural grocery owners with online resources to start and improve rural grocery stores.  Since many rural businesses struggle to stay open with such small populations as a market base, many small towns lose their grocery stores.  This is a pretty bad deal when the next option for getting groceries could be over an hour away.  I had way too much fun making this video during the sociology class about the issues facing rural communities and how FFA impacts them- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3i_pu47bLo

Blue Key: Great friend, great memories.  Also revamped and organized the workshop curriculum.  But mostly just enjoyed time with happy people :)

Interviewing for post-grad jobs: Well this was the biggest adventure of them all.  The idea of being an ag teacher had been in the back of my mind since I served as a state FFA officer my sophomore year of college.  But I really enjoyed my major in horticulture- decisions, decisions.  After applying for a few random jobs that I just couldn't see myself doing, I decided to go for it.  Spring break brought interviews at a few schools and I found a spot at Hill City.  I knew I had a tough road ahead going into this job without a teaching degree and no experience as a student teacher.  Hah- if only I knew what I was in for!

Graduation: My mom and great aunt planned a super nice party after graduation and I was blessed to have the support of many family and friends.  Giving the student address at graduation was an incredible experience, though I am shocked the College of Ag trusted me with a microphone.
P.S. if you haven't gotten a thank you card from me, it's because I'm a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad person.  Don't give up on me yet.

Welcome to the Real World! (they said to me condescendingly): June commenced traveling to DC with the kids from Hill City attending Washington Leadership Conference and taking my agriculture Praxis exam to prove I was qualified to teach ag.  In July I moved to Hill City, in a nice little rental and also attended a conference in Colorado focused on teaching through student discovery.  Throughout the summer I started my first online classes to become certified as a teacher through a non-degree grad school program at Fort Hays.  And in August, I took the officer team to Lake of the Ozarks for retreat and school began!

Since then, life has pretty much been making lesson plans and grading papers mixed in with getting kids prepped for Career Development Events, planting wheat plots at the school farm, and listening to my students spout social media trends when I ask them questions: "21, a potato flew around my room, look at all these chickens," etc. Not to mention attempting to stay on top of my own online classes to get that teaching certificate.

Amid all that craziness, I happened to go on a date with a guy I had shared several horticulture classes with.  Finding a great guy right before you both graduate and move away is a great idea and I highly recommend it to everyone who likes to feel emotionally unstable.  But when (as he puts it), he pretty much needed a guy with a glow baton directing planes down the runway to get my hints, what's a girl to do.  Over the summer, Lance had an internship at Ward feed yard in Larned.  At the end of the summer, we made a tremendous decision and he moved to Norton, half an hour north of Hill City, to work as an assistant manager at a feed yard in the area.  With him working 14+ hour days, seven days a week, and me stressing out over all of my irons in the fire, I don't know what we would do without each other.  But since we are apparently gluttons for punishment, we also got an Australian shepherd puppy named Blue.  He hasn't been too much of a hassle other than chewing my internet cord in half and destroying my screen door- luckily both replaceable, though not fun to pay for.

And that brings us to now.  I am so happy to be back in northwest Kansas and close to family.   But I am also getting to experience first hand many of the disadvantages of being a first year teacher as well as a young person in a rural area.  On the bright side I get to have my first ever planning period in the spring, but unfortunately I will lose my fun 8th grade class as they transfer to their other semester courses.  Taking this job, for some reason it never occurred to me that the only people I would see all day were aged 13-18.  While they are definitely full of energy and QUESTIONS that put me to the test everyday, it would be nice to see another adult every once in a while- or at least someone who is masquerading as an adult, like me.

Lastly, if any friends and family happen to be reading this- I MISS YOU!  Living in a cell phone free building has put a real damper on our relationships and having your students on social media makes that a lot less appealing.  I hope to catch up with you all soon.

Dang. I need to work on my brevity- but I guess a year does warrant a few paragraphs.
Mostly I can't believe it's already November- time flies and there are not enough hours in the day (either that or not enough motivation in my coffee cup).  But at least one thing hasn't changed: I haven't a clue what I'm doing, but am sure enjoying the ride.

Do Farmers Really Feed the World?

    This week one of my teachers told me that conventional agriculture does not feed the world.  She showed a diagram that depicted industrial farming feeds 30% of the world population.  

She showed this diagram to, and I quote, 

“Refute the signs on the side of the highway that say one farmer feeds 154 people and you.” 

WHAT.

THE.

FRENCH.

TOAST.

     I’ll admit, it was really difficult to stay in my seat and not go punch dance out my rage in a wooded glen. (haha for obscure movie references) I had to remind myself of my workshop last week where we discussed “thinking hats” and how to use them in agriculture advocacy to avoid emotional responses. 

     Mind you, those signs don’t say what type of farmers feed 155 people.  But because of my professor’s preconceived notions about modern “industrial” agriculture, she felt the need to lash out and defend the type of agriculture she believes has all the answers.  She found her statistic from the ETC group.  I could just as easily find a statistic (and I did) saying that agricultural imports in third world countries have increased by 122%.  That sounds like feeding the world to me.
      We can twist little pieces of the agriculture story to say whatever we want them to.  But how can we refute the fact, the scientific fact, that farmers feed the world?  Yes, conventional agriculturists, urban agriculturists, organic agriculturists, agriculturists from Peru and China and Australia. 
      Honestly, we do not have the time to waste fighting between ourselves, saying that one form is better than the other, claiming that one is more important, or that one has all the solutions to feed our growing population. 

We need all agriculture.  We need all the ingenuity, creativity, productivity, efficiency, and sustainability agriculturists- of all kinds- have to offer.