Why does the world need Agricultural Education

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Why does the world need Agricultural Education?
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Why?

• Has it out lived its usefulness?
• Has the time come for us in ag ed to say we have
  done our job and now fold-up shop and do other
  things?
• Is there a future to farming/agriculture?
• Would the world carry on just as well without us,
  if we were gone?

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These are Questions that some uninformed, well
meaning person might ask you some day.

• Dont be shocked!
• Dont be dismayed!
• This is a great opportunity for you!
• So be prepared with an answer!

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Ok what is/are the answers?
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Agriculture Provides Society With.

• Food
• Clothing
• Shelter

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Growing Interest in Agriculture and Natural
Resources

• Recreation
• Relaxation (mental health)
• Physical Health
• Medicine
• Enhancement the Environment

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Of course I want to eat!

• Let he/she miss a few meals and then they will
  understand the need for ag ed
• But what does eating have to do with ag ed?
• WellWell uh,,,,,,uh (dumb look)
• You are what you _________.
• Do you like to eat well?
• Do you want a safe food supply?
• Do you want the food supply to be rich in
  nutrients?
• Do you want a clean environment?
• Do you want variety ?
• Do you want abundance?

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YES, of course...You want all of this!

• Without
• Science
• Math
• Engineering
• Technology
• Management
• Communications
• Without an educated labor force
• Without these you ask for the impossible

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Does Ag Ed do this?

• yeah. sort of. well.Part of it
• Develop interest and awareness
• Careers in production (2 of pop)
• Careers in a related field (1 in 5)
• Provides basic foundation in science, management,
  etc.
• Provides opportunity for career exploration
  experience
• Vocational function

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How many farmers are there today?
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Is farming the only job in agriculture?

• NO
• Farmers are important!
• But agriculture is more than farming!
• 1 out of 5 jobs related to agriculture
• How many can you name?
• DOT lists 12,000 jobs 1 in 5 2400 different jobs

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Look at the Markets..!

• Corn is less than 2.00/bu
• Rice is about 6.00
• Hogs are cheap
• Red meat consumption is on the decline
• Cost of production is more than some products
  brings at market.

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Does Low Prices Mean Anything?

• YES, OF COURSE. However..
• It does not imply that there is no need for ag
  ed.
• Price is a function of demand and supply and
  policy, imports, etc. With droughts and other
  weather related factors supply levels vary.
• Prices on some farm products are down, but not
  all.
• Some are at record highs
• Not all ag jobs are production jobs.

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Where do people live today?

• City/urban
• decline pop
• less preferred
• cost are high

• Country/Rural
• increase
• more preferred
• reasonable cost

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What does it mean to live in a rural area?

• Once upon a time it meant you knew more about
  agriculture, but not now.
• 90 of all Americans have been non-farm for 30
  years or more
• So rural people need ag ed also.

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Do City/Urban folks need Ag Ed?

• Why? or why not?
• Many of the non-production jobs are the 1 in 5
  non-production Jobs, some of which are in the
  city.
• Knowledge of food source
• They also vote on ag issues
• Believe it or not some have a deep appreciation
  for Agriculture.

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How important is Agriculture to balancing
international trade?
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What does religion have to do with it?

• Our background
• Influence of other cultures
• A new religion, with influence
• Bottomline is that religion, or absence of,
  influences the thoughts and actions of people in
  many ways, some of which are associated with
  Agriculture.

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Don t eat that Chicken!

• "Six million Jews died in concentration camps,
  but six billion broiler chickens will die this
  year in slaughterhouses."
• Ingrid Newkirk Cited in the Washington Post,
  November 13, 1983.

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Too Many Eggs

• Making chickens lay more more eggs is cruel.
• Legislation to stop forced molting.

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Is it a boy or a pig?

• There is no rational basis for saying that a
  human being has special rights. When it comes to
  having a central nervous system, and the ability
  to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig
  is a dog is a boy."
• Ingrid Newkirk, founder of People for the Ethical
  Treatments of Animals (PETA). Cited in
  Washingtonian magazine, August 1986, and Vogue,
  September 1989.

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An ant is to a child

• "The life of the ant and the life of my child
  should be granted equal consideration."
• Michael Fox, vice president of the Humane
  Society of the United States. Inhumane Society
  (Fox Publications, n.d.)

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Dont put them in Cages!They were meant to be
free

• Before

• After

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Meat eaters areburden to society!

• Meat production , some say, taxes our natural
  resources more than grains and veggies.
• Your future employer might care what you eat! If
  health risks are increased, as some say, because
  you eat meat, you may cost more to insure.
• So you eat how much meat? And you want the
  government to pay for your health care when you
  eat the way you do!!!!

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Thou Shalt Not Kill

• PETA Holiday Campaign Calls on Christians to
  Give Beef the Boot
• Grand Jury Issues Indictments Following PETA
  Undercover Investigation
• PIG FARMERS PLEAD GUILTY IN LANDMARK CRUELTY
  CASE

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Proud Parent

• Curtis and her daughter Annie launched PETA's
  "Proud Parent of a Student Who Won't Dissect"
  Bumper Sticker Campaign.

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Cruelty-Free Shoes

• A Parents magazine poll found that 69 percent of
  the respondents were opposed to killing animals
  for leather.

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MILK SUCKS

• MILKSUCKS .COM

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MILK FOR YOUR HEALTH ?

• Dairy products are a health hazard. They contain
  no fiber or complex carbohydrates and are laden
  with saturated fat and cholesterol. They are
  contaminated with cow's blood and pus and are
  frequently contaminated with pesticides,
  hormones, and
  antibiotics. Dairy products are linked to
  allergies, constipation, obesity, heart disease,
  cancer, and other diseases.Source Milksucks.com

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Some of the Issues of our time that relate to
agriculture

• Water quality
• Food safety
• Environmental issues
• Animal welfare
• fur coats
• hunger
• Many more..

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How do these facts, fit in with our discussion of
the need for Agricultural Education?
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Where do people get their information?
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Where do little peoplechildren get information?

• Childrens TV -- meat free Monday
• Potically correct childrens TV
• Childrens books
• Movies -- i.e. Babe

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What About Older Youth?

• School
• Social studies, history, geography
• Science and biology courses
• Even math courses -- test questions based on
  selection of a politically correct answer.
• Internet
• Newspapers and TV
• AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

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Who provides this information?

• People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals
  (PETA) and other groups like them.
• Humane Societies
• Movie Stars
• Serria Club
• Movies, and TV shows
• Nightly News, and News Magazine shows
• Many, many, more
• AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION

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What Does Agricultural Education Do?

• Brings information
• Brings balance
• Relates both sides of the story
• Focuses on farming and beyond
• Defends rights
• Promotes responsibility
• Shape the issues
• How will they know unless someone teaches them?

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More reasons...

• Contributes to individual and national economy
• Opportunities for young people to explore career
  opportunities in agriculture
• Vocational education
• Leadership education
• Builds character

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Who is opposed to AG ED?And why?

• Iotoloa in Iran
• Mao Zedong, 1949 in China
• Or most any communist or socialist model of
  government, because we promote entreprenureship.
• Programs which compete for funds.
• People with bad experience
• Superintendent/Principle who had a bad teacher
• People who just dont know what Ag Ed is about.

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So, who Opposes Agricultural Education?
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Not just individuals and organizations are out to
stop agriculture but at least one religion is at
odds with what we do in agriculture.

• ????????????????????????????

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Pantheism

• Pantheism is the view that the natural universe
  is divine, the proper object of reverence or the
  view that the natural universe is pervaded with
  divinity.
• Source http//altreligion.about.com/

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You might be a Pantheist if You

• Like to hug trees
• Spent your vacation in a Redwood tree to prevent
  logger from cutting it down
• Derive your religious experience through a
  personal relationship with the Universe
• Hate bulldozers!
• Refuse to eat anything but organically grown food
• Mourn during the first few weeks of deer season

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The Earth Is Sacred

• Environmental concern is so strong among
  pantheists that Paul Harrison lists as the second
  of pantheism's central tenets the claim that "the
  earth is sacred." He explains it as follows
• When we say that the earth is sacred, we mean it
  with just as much commitment and reverence as
  believers speaking about their church or mosque,
  or the relics of their saints. But we are not
  making a statement about the supernatural. We are
  saying that we should treat the natural world as
  believers treat their temples and shrines--a
  place to be revered and preserved in all its
  glory.

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Will production agriculture become a thing of
the past?

• Not if you like eating!
• How could that be?
• Send those jobs over seas
• Over specialization of society
• Too dependent on other countries
• Importing too much
• Negative opinion of using the earth in any way
  that will harm Her
• New religions

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Be Prepared to Defend Agriculture
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Not with Guns or Fists

• But with hard facts and sound information

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Because You Are a Teacher

• The End