A Blessing in Disguise

It's been all over the internet: Facebook, twitter, blogs... A Yahoo Education website says Agriculture is a useless degree and they get their source from this article. Also listed are majors like journalism and advertising: that doesn't sound good for a science and agricultural journalism major like me!


Regardless of what the articles said, I'm not too worried. I'd feel worse if I was one of the publishers of this information. They sure have started a fury of debate! Yet it's been a blessing in disguise, in my opinion. 


What do I mean by that? People are on fire, Facebook pages have been created and it has become a great opportunity for people of the agricultural community to stand up for themselves. There have been some awesome comments that are well thought out and full of the facts- that agriculture is a broad industry that provides occupational opportunities beyond the obvious. 


It may be true that the demand for certain agricultural jobs is decreasing, but that doesn't make an agriculture degree useless. In fact, an article on the top 10 college majors with the lowest unemployment rates listed some agricultural majors. The odd thing is that fact was issued by Yahoo as well...


The real fact is an article can't change the facts. An article is supposed to present the facts, but when the facts are taken out of context an opportunity arises for citizens to raise their voices and provide more background information to a few statistics reported. 


As long as the world has a need for food, fiber and oil, the industry that produces those products will always be important just as the need for young leaders to pursue degrees in that industry is important. I think we have obstacles and an image to overcome, but I think our college educations can only make us stronger and better able to provide the basic necessities of life to the world.


The people of agriculture are beginning to see it's important to, as a past National FFA Convention theme encouraged, "step up and stand out." Why? Because we know agriculture is too important not to.   This event was just another example of agriculturalists stepping forward and speaking up. We're standing together, which, to me, makes this a blessing in disguise.