INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Ryan Peterson is extremely busy these days, finishing out his yearlong term as the eastern region vice president of the National FFA.

Peterson spent about 300 days on the road over the past 12 months, traveling across the United States, including Alaska, giving speeches, meeting with the heads of agricultural firms and learning about how things are done all over the country.

“All of the (FFA) students have very different backgrounds, yet share a common bond,” Peterson said.

It was this cultural diversity that constituted one of the high points of his experience on the road.

Peterson finishes out his term this month at the first National FFA Convention to be held in Indianapolis, Oct. 25-28.

In Indianapolis, Peterson and the other national FFA officers will hand the baton to the next slate of national officers.

Peterson took a year off of college to devote himself full-time to his FFA duties. Starting in January, he will resume his studies as a junior at Michigan State University (MSU) where he is majoring in agribusiness management.

“Agribusiness management gives me a lot of options, a lot of depth,” Peterson said. “It doesn’t nail me down as much as some other majors might.”

Agribusiness management involves the economics and management of many different kinds of agricultural businesses, Peterson said.

“The opportunities in agriculture are sometimes hard to see,” he added. “People don’t see the marketing, research and other aspects that go into farming. There are a lot of opportunities. I really enjoy the animal health industry.”

While Peterson might like to work at a company such as Pfizer as a consultant or agribusiness manager, he also expresses an interest in staying in touch with his roots in production agriculture.

He grew up in Niles, Mich., on a 1,400-acre farm where cattle were raised, and where corn, soybean and alfalfa were grown. Still, the past year has broadened his horizons.

In addition to traveling to Alaska and many other places in the U.S., Peterson also spent 10 days in Japan last February.

He describes Japan as a place where people emphasize honor, mutual respect and the idea that people need to get along with each other.

“It’s a cool culture to experience,” he said.

“Their agriculture is very prized for its quality,” he added. “It’s very greenhouse and very seafood oriented.”

Peterson said that the lack of land reduces the scale at which agriculture can operate in Japan. A farm tractor, for example, can be the size of an average lawn tractor here.

Peterson said that there was also a lot of cultural diversity in the different companies he visited in the United States.

He emphasized cultural diversity as a learning experience over the past year, saying that one of FFA’s major missions is to create an “agriculturally literate” group of young people who can spread their knowledge of agriculture’s importance to the public at large.

This farm news was published in the Oct. 18, 2006 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.