![\"FFA](\"https:\/\/understandingag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/FFA-meme1.jpg\" "\\"FFA")
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWe recently had the privilege of attending the National Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis, Indiana to represent Understanding Ag. Mingling with a sea of over 70,000 kids wearing the classic blue and gold FFA jackets with their home states emblazoned across the back is an unforgettable experience. It brought back memories of my own time in FFA over 30 years ago. Much has stayed the same. In a time of great uncertainty, it was heartwarming to interact with so many bright, inquisitive young people who are still following the <\/span>FFA Creed<\/span><\/a> first adopted over 90 years ago, which instills in the next generation the importance of respect, knowledge, hard work, and leadership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It begins with <\/span>I believe<\/i><\/b> in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds \u2013 achievements won by the present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggles of former years\u2026.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Much has also changed. In our rural high schools, almost every FFA kid grew up on a farm and was directly involved in production agriculture. That has changed dramatically, following the same general decline in farm numbers here in the U.S. When we asked the kids if they were involved in farming, very few had any family connection to the land, and fewer still lived on a farm. Another change from 30 years ago is the shift from male to female dominated FFA membership. The future of agriculture is one where women will be in charge. After interacting with these engaged and thoughtful young women, we can say that the future is in good hands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One observation we made was the \u201ctheme\u201d of the exhibitors when walking around the exhibit hall. The buzzwords \u201csustainable\u201d and \u201cregenerative\u201d were apparent at many of the bigger companies\u2019 booths.\u00a0 While industry seems to have an idea where things are headed, we wondered if either the exhibitors or the attendees understood the concept and power of a truly regenerative food system.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A revealing demonstration<\/b><\/p>\n We were at the convention to do outreach to FFA advisors and high school ag teachers, and to educate people about healthy soil using some simple demonstrations. There are many definitions of healthy soil, but for now let\u2019s just say that you know it when you see it, <\/span>if<\/span><\/i> you know what to look for. We set up a simple slake demonstration pictured here and asked the kids which soil they though was \u201chealthier\u201d. More than a third of the kids guessed incorrectly. That wasn\u2019t entirely surprising. We likely would have gotten it wrong too at their age. However, we noticed a few very revealing trends during our discussions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first was that kids that just used their intuition and answered quickly were more likely to choose correctly. The longer they thought about it the more likely they were to switch from their initial guess and choose the soil on the right. \u201dGo with your gut\u201d definitely applies here. Even though many of us are disconnected from the land, we all still have the capacity to instinctively recognize healthy and unhealthy soil if we can see, touch, and smell it. Why? Because our lives depend on it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The second was that kids with no farming background at all were more likely to choose the soil on the left, which is the correct answer. How did these kids with no soils education reason it out? They simply looked at the water. Which would you rather drink?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Interestingly, we noticed was that kids that did have a farming connection or were involved in FFA soil judging or land judging contests were<\/span> much more<\/span><\/i> likely to get it wrong! When we asked why they chose the soil on the right, the answer was typically some version of \u201cbecause the nutrients are dissolved in the water\u201d or \u201cbecause that powdery soil looks like it would be better to plant a seed into.\u201d They clearly had some knowledge of soil, but that knowledge was leading them astray.<\/span><\/p>\n Their answers aren\u2019t surprising either, because it\u2019s exactly what we were taught in high school and college. The predominant view in agriculture is still one where tillage is used to pulverize the soil for good seed to soil contact, and readily available fertilizers need to be applied so the crop doesn\u2019t experience a shortage of nutrients. Both views are outdated, a topic which we have covered extensively in our <\/span>blogs<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0 <\/span>workshops<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Soil Health Academies<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Teaching the teachers<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s clear we need to do a better job of educating our educators about soil life and soil function. In fairness to our amazing teachers, we didn\u2019t understand some of these basic principles until more recently, even though we have both spent a lifetime in agriculture. Civilizations rise and <\/span>fall<\/span><\/a> based on their ability to manage these critically important soil functions and ecosystem processes, and they are not being taught to most high school or college students today, just as they were not taught to us decades ago.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But there\u2019s good news. Thanks to a grant from global food company General Mills, FFA advisors, 4H instructors and secondary and post-secondary vocational agricultural instructors can receive access to Understanding Ag\u2019s Regen Ag 101, a comprehensive, online <\/span>course for free<\/span><\/a>. The interactive course provides a foundation of understanding of the basics, benefits and principles of soil health-improving regenerative agriculture for those who are teaching our next generation of agriculturalists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The other good news is that in three minutes, with three simple demonstrations \u2013 shovelfuls of well aggregated and poorly aggregated soil, the slake test, and a water infiltration simulator \u2013 we are able to teach the simple, yet incredibly important concepts of plant-soil interaction via photosynthesis and carbon cycling, the biological process of aggregate formation that allows soil to function properly, and their connection to floods and droughts that they have all experienced in their short lifetimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Education that leads to understanding<\/b><\/p>\n Tradition is powerful, and the tradition of hard work, self-sacrifice, service to others, and honesty the FFA instills in our future farmers is invaluable. However, not all traditions are worthy of carrying forward. It is imperative that we teach the teachers, along with the next generation of soil stewards, that healthy soil is alive, and that nurturing biological activity in the soil is the only path to sustainable food production. We need to teach both new findings and centuries-old understandings that fell through the cracks of our educational systems in the modern era.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Gabe Brown, one of our founding partners says, \u201cYou cannot implement what you do not understand.\u201d Modern agricultural education is often missing the understanding of soil function, because we are now three generations into an \u201cagri-culture\u201d of dominance over nature via chemistry-based farming practices. There is a better, more regenerative way forward, and we need to invest in educational resources to bring that knowledge of biology and ecology into mainstream agriculture.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The FFA creed ends with <\/span>I believe<\/i><\/b> that American agriculture can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life and that I can exert an influence in my home and community which will stand solid for my part in that inspiring task.<\/span><\/i> Some 30 years on, we still believe this too. We believe it because we have seen the transformative change that happens in those \u201caha\u201d moments when the lightbulb comes on and young and old alike first see and understand the connections between healthy soil, plants, animals, people, and the ecosystems that sustain us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We need to light the path for our future farmers, because our future is in their hands.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The post Closing the Soil Health \u2018Knowledge Gap:\u2019 Lessons from the FFA Convention<\/a> appeared first on Understanding Ag<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We recently had the privilege of attending the National Future Farmers of America convention in Indianapolis, Indiana to represent Understanding Ag. Mingling with a sea of over 70,000 kids wearing the classic blue and gold FFA jackets with their home states emblazoned across the back is an unforgettable experience. It brought back memories of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12026],"tags":[11737,12978,26538,9283,597,6321,5200,14523],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-91889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-closing","tag-convention","tag-ffa","tag-gap","tag-health","tag-knowledge","tag-lessons","tag-soil"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Picture1\"](\"https:\/\/understandingag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Picture1.jpg\" "\\"Picture1\\"")
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