Confronting the Ag Tech Myth

The other day, I was being interviewed for a special feature on my school's website. I go to a small fine arts school in the Chicago suburbs, which is situated in a fairly wealthy area. Here, agriculture doesn't get thought about much. When I saw the initial story written, I was more than a little shocked by one sentence.

"Kelly Rivard, sophomore, is bringing new technology to an old-tech industry."

What!? This story about my activity in social media and agriculture was written by an educated lady who was a wonderful writer. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, though. She was born and raised in the suburbs. It wasn't an intentional attack against ag; it was a misinformed but well-meaning profile of me.

I knocked on her office door and she seemed happy to see me. She was willing to talk about the article, so we sat down and made some changes. First off, I didn't want undue credit. Agriculturalists were using social media long before I was on the scene. Secondly, I strongly advocate urban and suburban education in terms of agriculture. The people who see this website should know that farmers are educating themselves in some pretty sophisticated technology!

While I can't restate it word-for-word, the revision went something similar to this:

"Kelly Rivard, sophomore, has immersed herself in new technology to help promote a very old industry."

After all, agriculture was the first industry. As the oldest type of trade, it has a long history of tradition. Part of that tradition is the on-going innovation that takes place every single day. Research is always going on, and it has to continue. With populations rising at alarming rates and farmland disappearing quickly, we need cutting-edge technology to make the best products in large quantities. Farmers are doing more with less these days.

Maybe I encounter this more because of my school. Maybe I'm just especially alert to the fact that suburban and urban folks make well-meaning mistakes and misconceptions in regards to farming. Either way, it's important to teach those who don't know. It is encounters like this that keep me reaching out. If the ag community doesn't teach the public, who will?

BIO:
Kelly Rivard is a sophomore at North Central College, where she studies Interactive Media Studies and English. She plans to use her experience in Internet Communications to pursue a career in Agriculture Communications after college.