At the beginning of college, I enjoyed my area of study I chose but I wanted to be involved with agriculture, something I missed most when leaving for college. I did some research and I found the area of study perfect for what I have always wanted to do: Agricultural Communications. With this major I am able to communicate about agriculture through journalism and advertising.
Choosing Agriculture Communications opened many doors for choosing a career path. When thinking about agricultural careers, farming automatically comes to mind. Now this is the most logical answer for a career but we need to keep in mind how large the agriculture industry really is. Related to my experience, I found hundreds of career paths related to ag that one could take depending on the area of interest.
One particular path I am currently taking is within the communications field. This semester, I interned with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and had the opportunity to host a panel of three speakers: Dr. Janeen Salak-Johnson, Chuck Spencer, and Leon Corzine. All three individuals deal with different aspects of agriculture. The three agriculture advocates spoke about how they promote agriculture among others and the importance that agriculture has made in their lives.
Dr. Janeen Salak-Johnson is an Associate Professor of Animals Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Johnson is an agriculture advocate dealing with animal rights. An interesting story Dr. Johnson told was about her daughter. Her daughter is younger and wants to become vegetarian because she saw the “cute pig” in Charlotte’s Web. Dr. Johnson informed her daughter of the ag industry and animal rights among livestock and has influenced her daughter to continue eating bacon. Dr. Johnson reiterated the importance of educating people about animal rights correlating with agricultural needs.
Chuck Spencer is the Director of Government Affairs at GROWMARK. Spencer took the business path of agriculture. He manages state and federal legislative issues with GROWMARK. Previously in his agriculture history, he was the Director of National Affairs and Policy Development for the Farm Bureau. Lobbying at the capital is not always done by people who understand agriculture, and that is what Chuck reiterated several times. Voicing your opinion is a way to help the industry, and anyone can become involved. Any age group can lobby or speak about the ways of agriculture and each and every individual will help the government to understand the focus of ag.
Leon Corzine is a 5th generation farmer from Assumption, IL and also currently serving on the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. He recently served as President of the National Corn Growers Association, representing corn growers in America. Leon mentioned how social media is becoming an important tool to communicated and create awareness for agriculture. If you log in to your Facebook account, agriculture fan pages and groups are created almost daily. This is a small but effective way to promote and educate individuals about the necessity of agriculture. Within Leon’s previous job, he was able to represent agriculture to the nation. Leon is an agriculture advocate and a role model to many individuals who deal with agriculture, especially corn.
These three spoke on their focus of the agriculture industry. I learned so much about the different paths they took while realizing the importance of agriculture. It is interesting to hear the ways these individuals promote agriculture and how one could easily become involved.
After listening to the speakers and being motivated to promote ag, I encourage each of you to also get involved with agriculture. This could be joining an agriculture group or attending a panel of speakers. Whatever you do, remember the multiple opportunities and rewards that agriculture has to offer!
By: Abi Coers
ICGA/ICMB Intern
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