Agriculture has an effect on your life, whether you realize it or not. Everyone understands they need those three basic things to live – food, water and shelter. The agriculture industry actively provides one of those basic things for every American, and if you ask Dr. Galt-Brown 70% of the world, with food. That being said, agriculture is painted as a one trick pony, full of blue-collar farmers on tractors in fields in rural America. However, agriculture is a massive industry. It’s more than farmers and fieldhands these days, it’s engineers, businessmen, communicators, and educators alongside farmers.
Agriculture is defined as “the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products” by Oxford Languages. You might read that definition and look at me confused when I say engineers and businessmen belong in agriculture alongside farmers and ranchers, but agriculture has expanded as technology continues to advance. There is a need for engineers to fix the heavy-duty equipment that farmers require. There’s also a need for businessmen, to sell equipment to farmers, and then sell the farmer’s products to the public.
The agriculture industry has expanded beyond engineers and business. Those two things have accompanied the industry since the beginning, but the introduction of agricultural communication and agricultural education has shifted the focus of agriculture in general. With the addition of agricultural communication, the word is getting out about the agriculture industry and people are seeing the importance of our farmers. Agricultural communicators, like Sara Wyant who founded Agri-Pulse Communications, are advocating for farmers and their needs so they can continue to feed America.
Agricultural communication plays a key role in the agriculture industry in general. Communication between farmers and farm workers, farmers and consumers, farmers and stakeholders are necessary for the industry to survive. The major bird-flu scare America experienced earlier this year was effectively communicated to the public because of agricultural communicators. That conversation happening between consumer and grower is vital to both parties. This communication also needs to happen between farmers and suppliers, understanding the amount of fertilizer needed, along with the type and chemical composition of the fertilizer is necessary for success on both ends.
Agricultural education is also rising in importance, educating farmers on more effective growing methods results in higher crop yields, and more profit for the farmers. Understanding the process of agriculture, what ideal conditions are for your crops, and threats that your fields face can change the game for a farmer and cause them to be more productive at the end of the day.
Agricultural education extends to the public as well, as common misconceptions continue to be created. For example, ranchers in the cattle industry continue to be blamed for the decreasing ozone layer. While cattle ranches contribute to this, they are not the primary cause. The purpose of widespread agricultural communication is to continue disproving misconceptions, while increasing the general public’s basic knowledge of agriculture.
The agricultural industry has expanded just beyond a farmer on a tractor, instead becoming a huge industry with a variety of potential professions. ABAC itself has become its own cornerstone of the agricultural industry, especially in Georgia. ABAC offers several agricultural programs and has followed the agriculture industry in expanding to include agribusiness, agricultural communication, and agricultural education in the list of offered programs. The importance of agriculture is not lost to anyone, but everyone can be made more aware of the agricultural industry as a whole, and ABAC continues to provide a space to explore agriculture further.