I was asked recently by a friend what was the largest challenge that I faced as a young individual involved in agriculture. For me the answer was simple, the “Voice of Agriculture.”

Several years ago I was giving a group of 2nd grade students a tour of the livestock barns at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO and I remember this little bright-eyed girl asking me how a chicken had eggs.

“Does the hen go around and find the eggs in the yard?” she eagerly asked.

As the number of farmers and ranchers producing food to feed the population in the United States and the world declines, so does the number of consumers who have direct contact with a farmer or rancher. As a young farmer and rancher I ask myself on a regular basis, “How do I ensure the voice of rural America will be heard in future years?”

For me the first step in addressing this challenge is step outside of my comfort zone and work to educate the very people I sometimes fear the most, the ‘city person.’ Urban and suburban people have many stereotypes of who a farmer is and what a farmer does.

I believe if we communicate the everyday happenings of the agricultural world to the person living in the city each can begin to understand that at the end of the day both worlds really aren’t that different. Let’s humanize the farmer in that individual’s mind. I bet the image the city person has in his/her mind is vastly different from reality.

Living in an urban area, I think this education piece can take many shapes including involvement in an urban 4-H club, volunteering at a local soup kitchen or simply talking to church members about what is happening to help preserve a lifestyle that helps to feed them. Again, we have to step outside of the tractor and communicate our message in order for the voice of agriculture to remain strong.