This past weekend I attended a County Farm Bureau meeting near St. Louis. While visiting with some Young Farmers, their daughter spoke up about a magazine a friend had given to her. This magazine said it was bad to raise animals in modern barns, and that people shouldn’t eat meat. This young girl’s friend was also a vegetarian.
It’s startling to see how activist groups are trying to shape young minds with misinformation. This young girl was smart enough to know the difference between right and wrong, thanks to her roots with agriculture. But so many other kids don’t have this knowledge available to them to make an informed decision.
As parents, we try to protect our kids from bad influences. This is a bigger challenge today than when I was a growing up. Many activist groups have websites geared toward young kids, they even have games on their website to help drive their messages home to kids. Many parents don’t realize these websites are a threat and allow their kids to view them on the internet. Some parents are blocking these websites on the internet hoping to protect their kids from the false information. But blocking these websites won’t stop these groups, they have email newsletters for kids to sign up for, as well as magazines.
One way we can help stop this threat is Accurate Ag Books and Ag in the Classroom. Local Farm Bureau members can take a few hours out of their day and travel to a nearby school and read an accurate book about agriculture. This will give kids who have no contact with agriculture the opportunity to meet a farmer or rancher and learn what agriculture is really about. It’s our responsibility to help our young kids understand agriculture. We can no longer afford to let the activist groups shape today’s young minds.