Thankful for best farm products

What a week! That is the only way I know to describe my last week's travels. I started in Fresno, Calif., with a group of young dairy families. Then I traveled to Texas A & M University, the University of Nebraska -Lincoln and finally Oklahoma State University. At each of the last three locations, I spoke to groups of young agriculturalists. I was so excited after my encounters with so many bright, eager minds that I called my own father to tell him about it. He said he could tell from listening to my radio programs how inspiring they were but he also brought up the fact that "you sure don't hear any other media talking about the good kids we have in this country." I never thought about it but how often do we hear the positive side of our nation's youth? Not often enough.

I have said it before but I truly believe that the generation of kids that make up the ranks of our high schools and colleges today are fed up with the status quo. I see a group that is taking a stand for what they believe is right regardless of what the mainstream is telling them they should do. A perfect example is Amanda Nolz. She is the South Dakota State University student that led the walk out against Carrie Underwood at the 79th annual FFA convention. Underwood supports and assists the Humane Society of the United States and Amanda Nolz did not think that FFA students should support her. Consequently, she walked out when Underwood was introduced and nearly 1,000 other kids followed.

There is one ironically interesting thing about most of these kids. The best advocates for agriculture all seem to have one common denominator: at one point in time they wanted to distance themselves from agriculture. Amanda, at the age of 13, would not admit to her classmates that her parents farmed near Mitchell, S.D. Crystal Olsen and Ibby Allen, seniors at UNL, entered college with the intent of getting away from their agricultural roots.

I have little doubt that what leads our good, hard-working farm kids to leave agriculture comes directly from their parents that believe there must be greener grass on the other side of the fence. I believe we are incorrectly attempting to chase the next generation from the farm. A sustainable farming operation can only "sell heifers" for so long and at some point the cowherd is gone. We don't have the option of buying "replacement farmers" here. The only alternative will be to relocate farming families to other countries such as Brazil. I, for one, think that is a lousy repopulation plan.

The best part of this story is the impetus for these young ladies and other young leaders like them to come back to agriculture. Not only do they embrace agriculture but they have become tremendous advocates for it. Each of these young leaders has had an encounter with "agricultural ignorance." Someone they encountered during their daily routines did not understand or had been misinformed about some facet of food production. It lights a fire in them to contribute to the educational process about American agriculture. I can personally assure you that there is nothing more incredible to watch than young people from U.S. farms and ranches who have had the fire lit inside of them to be advocates for agriculture.

This 2006 Thanksgiving season, we should all stop for a moment and reflect about how fortunate we are to live in the United States of America. Sure we have the safest, most reasonably priced food in the world. In addition we have military men and women who have been willing to sacrifice their lives to ensure our freedom. I do not want to minimize any of that, but during this Thanksgiving season I will be most appreciative for the young people that farm families continue to produce. You see every one of these kids have been told "you are the future of the industry" and that rhetoric is tired. These kids realize the future of the industry, as well as our nation's freedom, are not rights granted to us but a privilege that we must work to maintain. I am thankful that others are finally realizing that the food, fiber and pharmaceuticals harvested from United States farms and ranches don't even come close to the quality of the future leaders produced there.

Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.

Date: 11/22/06

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