#SpeakAg With Claire Shelton

You don’t know what you don’t know. I mean, obviously, right? If we haven’t learned about something, we aren’t going to know much about it. However, have you ever thought about how we advocate about these things that maybe others don’t know a lot about? How can we effectively advocate for agriculture when we talk to people like they already know all about agriculture?

I always thought I knew about agriculture. There’s farmers, ranchers, processers, and grocery stores. I like agriculture because I like food. Perfect, I don’t need to know anything more. Until I realized I really didn’t know, what I didn’t know. Freshman year of high school I was enrolled in agricultural education classes. Through these classes, I learned I really didn’t know anything about agriculture. As I didn’t come from any sort of agricultural background, I thought that cows could always just be milked without ever having a calf. I thought if my food wasn’t organic, then it wasn’t healthy. I thought agriculture was the leading cause of global warning. I thought all these things because that was what the media was telling me about agriculture. And I didn’t think anything else about it.

As I continued my time in FFA and my agricultural classes I still felt embarrassed of all that I didn’t know about agriculture. My peers would start talking about random ag topics and I would sit there in silence because I had no idea what was going on. I always kept hearing, “I can’t believe people don’t know this” or “What is wrong with them for thinking ___”. Through all that, I would just keep silent because I didn’t want my peers to think I was dumb or stupid. However, I wasn’t dumb or stupid, I simply just didn’t know, what I didn’t know.

So, what does this have to do about being an advocate about agriculture? Well, how can we be an advocate if we get upset that people don’t know simple things about agriculture if we are not taking the time to educate them? As advocates for agriculture, we need to put ourselves in the consumers’ shoes and take a walk. We need to understand that it’s not always that the consumers don’t want to know about agriculture, it’s that they might not have had the opportunity in the first place to learn. Maybe they don’t know why they should care because they don’t know the obstacles agriculturists go through to get them their food.

As advocates we need to take the first step. We need to encourage consumers to learn more about the agricultural industry instead of shaming them for not knowing. By being an advocate for agriculture in our communities we can help educate people and encourage healthy conversations about ag topics. That way people in our communities can now know what they didn’t know about agriculture, and help others in the same position.  

Follow me along on my #SpeakAg journey!

Claire Shelton, Idaho FFA Secretary 2021-2022