After watching the National FFA convention on RFD-TV recently, I’m even more convinced that our beloved ag industry is in capable hands. I watched as the National FFA officers presented inspirational speeches of stepping up, making a difference and the art of “Zango.” I was so impressed with the youth on the verge of stepping into all areas of agriculture.

I know they are young and their brains aren’t yet crowded with bill-paying, nursery rhymes, what to cook for dinner and how to fix the broken silo unloader – but honestly, these kids are on the ball.
Let’s compare the speeches given by the FFA officers and the paid professionals. Hands down, I remember the main point of the kids’ speeches, as opposed to the poor performance of the star speakers.

The FFA officers had every single word memorized and were practically flawless in their delivery.

No, this didn’t lead to a boring, dry speech, but to kids paying attention and feeling the passion of their fellow leaders.

They offered positive encouragement and mapped out steps for self-improvement. They stressed service to others and taking the reins of responsibility. They were leading by example … and isn’t that what we need?

While the FFA convention thrust agriculture into a positive spotlight for a few days, those who are used to the hot lights of stardom were taking their own stand against our industry. You’ll remember that country singer Carrie Underwood is a vegetarian and proud of it; now she has another country crooner munching and crunching with her: Kellie Pickler.

Pickler told People magazine about her new discovery. She first decided to go veggie for health reasons, but a TV ad that vegetarian Pam Anderson did for animal rights group PETA piqued her curiosity.

She explained, “One night I couldn’t sleep and I was up and just Googling random stuff and I’m like, ‘Hmmm, PETA.’ I saw all the videos and I just thought it was horrible. It’s animal cruelty. A lot of it has to do with knowing what happens to the animals and it really bothered me and so I will not eat meat.”

This may be just one person, but she’s one person who has a lot of influence when you put her on a poster in a bed of cabbage sharing a carrot with a chicken with the slogan, “Share with your chickens, don’t eat them.” (Yes, I made that up.)

So, what do we do?  Let’s follow the example of our FFA stars: Prepare yourself, step up to the plate and be willing to take a swing without backing out of the batter’s box.

In the past three weeks, my oldest son has been questioned about rBST and it’s effect on dairy cattle and the consumer. The questioners? Two new teachers in our school district who learned he is from a dairy farm.

One wanted information and was open to what he had to say. The other assumed he knew more than this farm kid, and while he allowed my son to speak in class, he promptly disputed what was said and insisted on teaching his own misguided point of view.

In this situation, my job as a dairy producer is not only to arm my son with factual information and a nonthreatening way of presenting those facts, but I’m also responsible for keeping an ongoing dialogue with these educators in hopes of enlightenment resulting in a positive influence on the rest of the students they teach.

This is an area where livestock producers need to be intentional. Much like evangelizing the Gospel, we need to become evangelists of agriculture, knowing why we do what we do and sharing that with others at every opening.

We don’t have the funds of PETA or HSUS, but we do have two things they don’t have: the expertise to produce meat, milk and eggs which are required for a healthy body, and a generation of young leaders ready to step up and stand out for agriculture.

Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.