Harvest is time for ag education

October 12, 2007

Capital Press Editorial


Fall is a favorite time of year to showcase agriculture to the public. The last of the fall crops are being harvested as weather turns cooler. Pumpkin patches are aglow with orange orbs and the sounds of excited children. Roadside apple farms offer their crisp fare. In a few weeks, we will sit down to Thanksgiving dinner tables and enjoy the bounty of food that farmers and ranchers provide.

Fall is prime time to harvest new agricultural supporters too. All across the West, attempts are being made to reach out to non-farmers to cultivate understanding and knowledge.

This month, the Oregon Farm Bureau and the Baker County Association of Conservation Districts held a "Field to Fork" event to educate about 400 students from area schools about agriculture. The two-day symposium supported by Oregon State University Extension Service and Baker County CattleWomen opened eyes, ears and minds to the ways farmers contribute to our way of life.

Last month, the agribusiness committee of the Nampa and Caldwell Chambers of Commerce in Idaho sponsored a tour for 50 lawmakers. As Patricia McCoy of Capital Press reported, legislators were impressed and surprised to learn about the sophistication and contributions of Idaho farmers.

"We really hope to help all of them understand how varied Idaho agriculture is, with 144 different crops, and how hard farmers and ranchers work to make a living and feed the rest of us," said tour coordinator Roger Batt, who noted that half of Idaho's lawmakers have been in office four years or less.

In California , high school students this month donned hard hats and trekked into the blackened forests near South Lake Tahoe to learn some of the lessons of the devastating Angora fire that scorched more than 250 homes and 3,100 acres of timberlands. In a program called the 2007 Forestry Challenge, more than 80 students from Northern California high schools were taught about modern forestry practices and why healthy timberlands are important to the economy and the ecology.

"A lot of times kids don't understand the issues and when they grow up they hear things, but they haven't seen it for themselves," said Diane Dealey Neill, the coordinator of the program organized by The Forest Foundation. "It is important, not only for those students who are going into careers in natural resources, but those who want to be leaders in their community. Every Californian should be aware and interested in forest issues."

This weekend, more agricultural education is on tap when the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom holds its 2007 AITC Symposium in Pacific Grove , California . Teachers will learn about topics like water use, food safety, biotechnology and energy so they and their students are more aware of the challenging issues facing farmers and ranchers.

Most people give scant thought to the men and women providing their food, fiber, flowers and forest products. As the 2007 harvest season comes to a close, it is time to celebrate all that agriculture is and all that it gives us. Farmers and ranchers make up a very small percentage of our nation's population, but they produce benefits by the plateful for consumers. Programs that encourage students, teachers, lawmakers, community leaders and others are necessary to reconnect urban residents with their agrarian roots. They are vital to help people see agriculture as a vital and basic business that offers career choices for young people and a bounty of benefits to our way of life.

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