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Agricultural Education: Why It's More Important Than You Think

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You may be wondering why I’d call attention to agricultural education at all. You don’t want to be a farmer, so who cares?

Well, even though you’re not planning on being a farmer, or doing anything like that, it’s still important that you learn the basic knowledge in agriculture. In our last few elements, we’ve explored a lot about local farms and eating locally. You may be seeing the local food movement as a sort of a trend, something that’s getting popular these days, but that’s not without good reason.

Just think about it: when you eat locally, you know straight away what you’re eating, where it came from, and what could possibly be in it. So you know what you’re putting in your body.

But what if you just buy food from a supermarket, paying no attention to where it came from, how far it travelled to reach your plate, or what could be in it? Then you don’t know what you’re putting in your body.

The fact of the matter is, this is the way it goes for the majority of us- we just don’t pay attention to the lives our food has gone through before it reached us. I know this is going to sound very opinionated, but this shouldn’t be this way; everyone should know where their food is coming from. When people know about their food, they feel more connected to nature (whether they realize it or not). They’re more in tune to the Earth, and are more caring towards it (even if it’s only a little bit).

This is where agricultural education comes in. Agricultural education can erase this ignorance towards food’s past and can create a better path for food’s future. So it doesn’t matter if you’re not the least bit interested in agriculture, or gardening, or farming, or anything like that- this is simply just stuff that everyone needs to know. It’s something that should be incorporated into the middle or high school level; it should be a mandatory course (or at least, in my opinion it should be).

But what exactly constitutes a good agricultural education course? What would your average ag ed course look like?

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Well, there are usually a few components to your typical ag ed course, as seen in the photo above. The first is something called SAE- Supervised Agricultural Experience. In SAE, students are required to log a certain amount of hours of experience working in some sort of agricultural position. It can be paid or volunteer, or just anything at all, so long as it relates to agriculture, and is typically up to the student to take care of.

There are four different types of SAE that students can choose from. The first is entrepreneurship, where the student owns and operates an agricultural business. It can be anything very simple like a dog walking business, or as complicated as a dairy farm.

The second type of SAE is placement, where students get a job or internship in agriculture. Simple enough, and is usually the easiest option.

The third type is research and experimentation, where students conduct a research project that relates to agricultural topics. Yes, this is the one I can see being more favored in a high school classroom setting, but that's because it's like any typical high school homework or project (except, the student has to do a little active experimenting and researching). That's why I don't see this as being the most popular SAE option (of course, that could just be my opinion...).

The last type is exploratory. This one is where students go to career or college fairs that relate to agriculture, and usually require a write up of the experience.

It's become obvious that I strongly believe that agricultural education is something everyone needs. But your typical ag ed course is structured with a lot of work that the student needs to do on their own, outside of class, and I can't possibly expect every student in every high school everywhere to be able to fullfil the requirements outside the classroom, for many reasons.

So how can we accomodate this issue in the ag ed class curriculum? Perhaps SAE activities can be done as a class. Maybe once or twice a month the teacher selects the activity and the class goes out and participates as a class. I would say eliminate this from the class curriculum, but it’s important that kids get out there and experience the stuff they’re learning about, rather than just sitting in a classroom being lectured about it. After all, the whole point of having agricultural education in schools is to give students a good understanding of the true importance of agriculture, the role it plays in our society, and the importance of preserving the environment. Kids aren’t going to pick up any of these if they’re just sitting in a classroom being talked at for so long.

The second element of agricultural education is an organization called FFA. FFA stands for Future Farmers of America, but the official name of the organization is the National FFA Organization. FFA simply refers to their organization’s history in agriculture.

This organization is amazing- it reaches every state in the country, and even US territories, like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The FFA is an organization that really gets students working hard to achieve great things. FFA teaches students job interview skills, good resume building, and real life skills required in different agricultural fields. Students learn about anything from veterinary science to making excellent floral arrangements and memorizing all the different species of plants and flowers to food science.

Once again, I can't possibly expect every student to be able to participate in this organization successfully. It requires travel during and after school hours often in a school year, so students would have to be willing to miss a couple of days of school here and there, and would have to be willing to travel with their FFA team and stay ceratin places overnight, depending on the event. Furthermore, it requires a lot of preparation and hard work and knowledge about rather difficult subjects- not everyone is going to want to commit to that, I know. Not that it's not amazing, and something everyone should have the chance to be a part of- its just not something that need be required of everyone, as it is in your typical ag ed class.

So if agricultural education were to be made mandatory in every high school (or middle school) in the country, I wouldn’t recommend that FFA be required in that as well. It is an organization full of very dedicated, very passionate people- and if you’re not that kind of person that is committed to agriculture that way, you’re not going to want to be a part of it. But it is definitely something that should be readily available to any student who wishes to participate- perhaps make it a school club, allowing those who wish to join the organization to be able to experience the wonderful world of FFA. 

Want to learn more about FFA? Check out their website!

The third and final element of agricultural education is classroom and laboratory instruction. This is simply the curriculum of a class, teaching students basic skills and concepts in agriculture and applying that knowledge through hands on experience. This is the central idea I have in mind when I write this; sure, experience outside the classroom is valuable, and FFA is a very excellent way to learn and apply a skill, and to develop leadership skills, but the classroom learning is the part that absolutely everyone should get. This is the part that teaches students about the basics of agriculture; where students learn the true value of agriculture and the environment and taking care of the planet. Ag ed is even more than the plant-based knowledge, though; its knowledge of basic business practices, science, and natural resources. There are business aspects of agriculture that are important to know- usually having to do with money management and stuff of that nature, which is also a very important thing for students to have a basic knowledge of.

So there you have it- agricultural education teaches a wide variety of things, even if the technical jargon doesn’t stick. That’s not necessarily the important part. In my own experience in an agriculture based class in high school, I've learned that the importance of agricultural education is the message it leaves behind- there’s a whole world behind your food, a whole long journey it goes through to get to you that usually takes a small toll on the environment, and most people aren’t even aware of any of it. Most people don’t recognize fully just how important agriculture is, and how little most people care to know about it. It brings us the most important thing in the world- our food. Doesn’t it seem a little important for everyone to know a little something about it?