[Editor’s Note: The following essay, written by Tharptown sophomore Emma Henderson, was the first-place entry in the 2015 Franklin County Farm-City Committee Essay Contest. Emma is the daughter of Jonathan and Misty Henderson. She is a resident of the Mt. Hope community. Mr. Derek Ergle, her teacher, encouraged Emma to submit her essay. Congratulations Emma, and we’re proud to publish your award-winning essay in the Free Press.]
What comes to mind when you hear the word agriculture? Do you think of century-old techniques and old people in overalls carrying pitchforks? Well, agriculture is not old. In fact, it is still used today and is how all of us obtain our food and other resources.
Agriculture is the science or practice of farming or the rearing of animals for products like food, wool and other natural goods. Farming has been around for millennia. Humans have used it as a way to farm for ages. We may not have always known we were farming, but we were. Native Americans were some of the first groups of people to actually begin farming crops.
Farming doesn’t always mean using huge tractors and combines. It actually means the activity or business of growing crops. This means that anyone can farm, and anyone can sustain their family by growing crops. My grandfather grew fruit and vegetables for him, my grandmother, and me and my family, as well as the rest of the community.
Farming is a necessary part of living. You may think we can discover a way to scientifically develop foods. Maybe we can, but nothing tastes better than an apple, peach or any other fruit or vegetable that has just been pulled from the vine. Maybe you can scientifically develop foods, but can anything top the sweet satisfaction that comes with growing the food that you and your family will be eating?
Plus, there are numerous problems associated with genetically altered foods that contain growth hormones to greatly increase yields. Numerous studies have been performed linking the possibility of certain cancers and birth defects as a result of these growth hormones. Also, high-fructose corn syrup is found in most chemically altered foods and has been linked to heart disease and obesity.
We as human beings will always need to be able to farm. We will need to make sure that the values of not only farming but agriculture as a whole are passed down to all the generations to come. Agriculture is not only farming. It is so much more. You could raise cows, pigs, sheep, chickens or even alpaca. Even in an urban environment there are numerous opportunities to raise food to eat, such as with the use of green space on roof tops, green spaces on now defunct elevated railways, and aquaponics, which is the growing of plants in a water-based total life support system.
We as human beings need to do a better job of teaching the current generations, and even the future generations, more about agriculture. Did you know such rumors exist that some people believe that brown cows actually produce chocolate milk? We need to make sure that our children and grandchildren know what a farm looks like or what a cow looks like before they are faced with a generation that can not support itself by living off the land.
Agriculture must sustain the future. Without it, the entire world population will die out. It is our only chance of survival. With agriculture, the basis of almost every single product on the earth is formed. We can make clothes, food, gasoline and so much more. Agriculture is by far the most important task we as humans have. Without agriculture, the entire human population will either revert back to the complete primitive ways of the earliest years, or will become extinct.
Either way, we have the choice. Will we choose to teach the future generations, or will we allow the art and beauty of agriculture to die out along with the rest of us?
