"Aha" Moment: Starting my Senior Semester

Welcome back! I enjoyed my last moments of summer, but I am excited to dive back into this project. Two weeks ago, I had my last first day of school. I began Senior Seminar in Agriculture, and our first assignment was to reflect on an "Aha" Moment in the past three years.

The moment I chose to write about for this assignment was a piece of my motivation to select a Senior Capstone project that shares the industry I am passionate about. Agriculture impacts so many pieces of our daily lives, but the coming generations are becoming evermore disconnected from the industry that feeds them, clothes them and moves them from point A to B.

As many of you know, I interned at MVP Dairy and gave tours to the public. Which included sharing about the dairy with people who have never been on a farm before to dairy industry professionals. With their varying backgrounds, I was hit with a variety of questions. However, there was one little girl's question that stood out to me which turned into an "Aha" Moment. This 7-year-old girl bluntly and innocently asked, with no malice in her voice, “Don’t you just kill all the baby cows?” Although my mind was going a mile a minute, I landed on meeting her question with my own: “Where do you think the big cows come from?” and I went on to explain the importance of taking care of calves so they can grow into awesome productive cows to join your milking herd in the future.

Although I have been beaten with degrading questions and comments towards an industry I love and a family farm I respect, this is the one that stuck out to me. Primarily because she had to of heard that somewhere, and she believed it because she had no prior experience with a dairy farm, so why wouldn't she? I was aware of the disconnect between farmers and consumers, but this young girl made me realize the importance and urgency of industry transparency and being proactive about sharing the agriculture industry as a whole.

The Take Away

To those of us in the Ag Industry: Be open to sharing. We do not all need to be social media influencers, but we can uplift and support one another. Be proactive and encourage truth to be shared about your niche agricultural interest- your voice matters.

To those of you who are not: Ask questions. If you are curious about where your food comes from, find someone to ask. I am thankful to be a sounding board for my friends who are not involved in agriculture when they have questions about something they have seen whether it be on social media or in the grocery store.