market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Market Farming
List archive
- From: KAKerby AT aol.com
- To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
- Subject: [Market-farming] a research project is born
- Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 03:00:32 -0400 (EDT)
By some magical arrangement of the stars, a research project may have been
born today. I had just the right pieces of info come across my desk, in
just the right order, to raise some set of flags in my brain, that said "we need
to talk about this in more depth, and if no one is talking about it, someone
should." Dunno how and when and where it'll make its appearance, but it
was just too compelling an idea to leave me alone (as such worthy notions often
start). Given that you all undoubtedly have experience with at least some,
if not all, of these aspects, I wanted to share and to ask for more
information. Here's the list of juxtaposed scenarios:
Item A: piece in Tilth Producers Association newsletter (regional
sustainable ag group) about a young guy in a nearby ag school who likes
what he's learning, is excited about the future, and looking for stuff to make
his educational experience even better, not only for him but as an ongoing
project for the institution he's attending, and he can't wait to get
started
Item B: email I received toady, about a young guy in a
nearby ag school who is bored out of his skull, his teachers are either still
wet behind the ears and don't know any more than he does, or part of the old
boys club and as such are more interested in swapping stories about the good ol'
days than teaching, and where the only job that students can get (before
and while spending all that tuition) is fixing farm equipment, and the only
job that graduates can get (after spending all that tuition) is fixing farm
equipment
Item C: another email which pointed out (again) that the average age
of farmers is 57 and by gosh we need to get more young people into this dicey
art called ag and what are we going to do to accomplish that
Item D: another email which pointed out (again) that our nation's food
security is abysmal, most farmers don't know how bad it is, most consumers don't
know how bad it is, most regulators and government officials don't know how bad
it is, and it won't fix itself. So we'd best get busy and right now, to
salvage what little security we have and harness the great potential we have and
try to build something worth having in the future.
Item E: frequent concerns (OK, let's be honest and call them
complaints) about the quality of person coming out of these places of
higher education: what they know vs what they think they know vs what they need
to know, to be worthwhile farm employees or, gasp, competent farm owners and
managers in their own right.
I found those five pieces of information not merely related but dependent
upon each other, in ways that I've only heard peripherally talked about.
Now I know someone has GOT to be talking about how all these fit together.
But I haven't seen it yet. So my first task is to find out if anyone has
written anything discussing all these aspects together and how they relate to
each other. If there really truly is no conversation yet about these
topics, then by gosh and by golly there oughta be. So, the hunt begins for
more information.
I know that some of you are already working within a university system (and
so far you're safe; none of the schools I've ever seen mentioned on this
list were the two schools named above). But these same questions must
be coming up everywhere. If any of you already know of research, articles
or statistics along these lines (ie, 98% of kids graduating from University of
Old Dullards get jobs fixing combines for $23K/yr), let me know. No
sense reinventing the wheel. And any info along these lines would be good
to share. But I think it's time to start sharing them and talking about
them in relation to each other.
Gloves are off now; maybe I'm being melodramatic but this strikes me as one
of the most crucial questions we can be asking right now. If our
universities are only doing a spotty job, or a uniformly dismal job, of teaching
the next generation what's really at stake, why tolerate a status quo that ain't
working? Or perhaps those efforts are already underway, and I personally
just haven't seen or heard about it yet. In which case, we should spread
the word. So, whatever your opinions of the above, please share. I
think everyone should be talking about this.
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA |
-
[Market-farming] a research project is born,
KAKerby, 11/02/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born,
Bill Shoemaker, 11/02/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born,
Wiediger, Alison, 11/02/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born, Bill Shoemaker, 11/02/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born,
Wiediger, Alison, 11/02/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born,
Pamela Crowe, 11/02/2010
-
[Market-farming] Advice on Moving a greenhouse,
Jay Sleichter, 11/02/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Advice on Moving a greenhouse, Richard Robinson, 11/02/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Advice on Moving a greenhouse, Wendy's Produce, 11/02/2010
-
[Market-farming] Advice on Moving a greenhouse,
Jay Sleichter, 11/02/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born, Mike Rock, 11/02/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born, Etienne Goyer, 11/05/2010
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: [Market-farming] A research project is born, Richard Moyer, 11/02/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] a research project is born,
Bill Shoemaker, 11/02/2010
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