June 2007

Building Agriculture’s Future One Young Leader at a Time

In our society today, anyone engaged in production agriculture is well aware of the many challenges that we as producers, farmers and industry leaders face due to Americans losing their connections to their family farms. As a nation, we have become generations removed from production agriculture. Today’s mentality among Americans is that our food comes from the shelves of the local grocery store – not from the farms and ranches around our state and across the nation.

With this mentality and fewer and fewer young people choosing to pursue an agriculture education or career, I believe that is even more imperative for our state’s number one industry to recruit future leaders to be able to maintain its position as the leading industry for the state’s economy. As Director of Agriculture, I have a responsibility to encourage young Missourians to carry on the tradition and heritage of Missouri agriculture.

Agriculture is an exciting industry. Our producers today have new tools and technologies at their disposal making them more productive than ever before, and this trend will only continue. However, we are at a crossroads – we must prevent a "brain drain" away from agriculture. The challenges that we face does not come from the lack of tools needed to be efficient, but it comes from the lack of young people from around our state considering agriculture as part of their future. Our job is to recruit our youth to choose rewarding careers in agriculture and further build agriculture’s future.

On June 11-15, the Missouri Department of Agriculture is hosting the 20 th class of the Missouri Agribusiness Academy, a wonderful opportunity giving high school students an inside look into the amazing potential that exists in agriculture and agribusiness. Whether its production agriculture, government or life sciences, the Agribusiness Academy gives students exposure to future career options in agriculture and is a step in keeping youth engaged in the industry.

I’m looking forward to meeting with the thirty high school sophomores that attend the Agribusiness Academy and look forward to the many other opportunities to work with the amazing young leaders in the state of Missouri in the coming months.

We all must take on the challenge of recruiting new leaders to an industry that will continue to grow our food and our economy. By working together in encouraging young people the importance of choosing a rewarding career, we will ensure a strong future for agriculture in Missouri.

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