YORKTON - While this is not the first time I have used this space to applaud agriculture education efforts focused on youth, it is a topic that still surprises me that the need exists.
I grew up on a smallish mixed farm near a community which was very much rural in nature.
Most classmates while not necessarily directly from a farm, were connected to farms by grandparents, uncles and other family. I can’t imagine anyone in the school not knowing wheat made flour which made bread and milk comes from animals – generally from a cow.
Today I’m in a much bigger community – although Yorkton is still far from being a mega-city.
Certainly a drive in and around the city and you see how connected to agriculture it is from a livestock auction yard to grain elevators, to an oat processor and canola crushing plants and farm machinery dealerships. Take farming away from the region and if Yorkton survived at all it would be a mere shadow of what it is today.
Yet as much as the city exists largely to serve the rural farming area which surrounds it, fewer residents have that direct link to a farm.
Of course that stands to reason as families are generally smaller than in my youth, and the number of farms have been in decline, both contributing to fewer connections between city residents and a farm.
That is concerning on multiple levels.
To start with many begin to think their food simply comes from a store – which of course is not the case.
That is why programs such as the now long-running ‘Pizza Farm’ is so important as it provides young students with a hands-on experience which shows that everything that goes into a much-loved pizza exists because of a farmer.
But, the disconnect also means as many urban youth start to consider career paths, agriculture is often given limited considerations.
It is understandable that an urban youth probably doesn’t see themselves calving cows, or growing canola, but agriculture is a many-faceted sector with the potential to be a chemist working on crop protection products, or an engineer creating farm-friendly autonomous robots, to biologists working on plant genetics and the list frankly in near limitless.
That’s why an AgTech Expo held in Yorkton last week as a vehicle to introduce Yorkton and area students to potential careers related to agriculture was such a good effort by Agriculture in the Classroom Saskatchewan (AITC-SK), and Cornerstone Credit Union.
Agriculture in the Classroom Saskatchewan (AITC-SK) is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to enhancing students’ understanding and appreciation of agriculture.
The AgTech Expo was designed to introduce students to cutting-edge agriculture technology such as Sensors, Automation, Soil Testing, Biotechnology, Animal Science, and Robotics. With multiple interactive stations, students will have the unique opportunity to ask questions from local experts, participate in hands-on activities, and gain insight into the dynamic world of AgTech.
The ag sector needs to attract good people to its varied careers, and the Expo was very much a case of planting the seed, that agriculture can be a great career choice.
