Cool Farmers

Cool Farmers

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Washington State University PhD student and researcher in drought resistance for plants Megan Lewien, had a pretty articulate answer to the question, why isn't being a farmer perceived as being cool? "It's a disconnect. I think it needs to start, as you brought up, that the field of agriculture is is not for someone who is not intelligent. A family would not say, oh you should go and be a farmer. I think it starts with lower education and explaining how your plants grow. It is beyond a week in your botany or biology class in elementary or middle school. It is having them have a garden at school in a greenhouse and funding agricultural education classes. Agriculture, right now, is getting so large that you can't get into it unless your parents farmed. That's because you can’t own the land and don't have the infrastructure. It's a million-dollar infrastructure to be able to take over a farm. It is exciting that we have an increase in organic agriculture that more people are going towards but I think it's also a shift in our system needing a change beyond if you want to raise corn or soybeans or wheat. It would be having the government giving subsidies to a beginning farmer that wants to do sustainable agriculture. It's just a change in our agricultural system and I do see a decrease in students wanting to be farmers.
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