Agriculture: Viable, Valuable, and Visible

Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing Matt Rush, a farmer and cattle rancher from New Mexico and Executive Vice President of the New Mexico Farm Bureau, give a presentation through the Brock Center for Agricultural Communications.  His presentation was very well received, with plenty of laughter and food for thought.  The three key things he touched on during his presentation regarding the future of agriculture are that we need to remain viable, valuable, and visible.  His presentation actually fit in very well with what we’ve been discussing in JOUR 205, especially with regards to remaining and becoming more visible.  Rush correctly pointed out that as of now, agriculture is certainly viable.  In California, we are currently producing more food and commodities than ever before, with fewer farms and on less land.  Now if that’s not viable, what is?  I foresee the future of agriculture remaining just as, if not more viable.  With new technology, new breeds of seeds, and new cultural techniques, I believe we will continue making more with less and be well on our way to helping feed our nation’s population, and our world.  He also pointed out that agriculture needs to remain valuable.  Similar to remaining viable, agriculture is certain to remain valuable because everyone has to eat.  Though day to day fluctuations in weather, markets, etc. could cause unexpected profits or losses, I believe that agriculture will remain valuable. 

Beyond remaining viable and valuable, I think one of the hardest things for those in agriculture to do is remain visible.  With the very nature of agriculture requiring long hours of work away from any dense populations, it is difficult for farmers and ranchers to remain visible and be open and transparent about what they do.  Most farmers and ranchers would be absolutely content with sitting on their horse or tractor all day and not worrying about what others are thinking or saying.  But in reality, we need those very people to be their own advocates and be open and honest with people about not only what they’re doing, but why they’re doing it.  With less than 2% of American’s involved in agriculture, there are so many people who don’t understand what it takes to get the food that they enjoy to their table three times a day.  They don’t understand it, and most don’t care to understand it.  And that’s where we as people involved in production agriculture and as agriculture communicators come in.  It is our job to be our own advocate, teaching others what we do and why we do it, in the hopes of seeing a brighter future for our industry.