Did You Know?!

As I was checking out a friend's "She's Country" Facebook page, (everyone 'like' it :) ) I couldn't help but notice one of her posts:"Did you Know: Approximately 22 million people work in ag related fields. Are you one of them? What do you do?" This got me thinking, and it relates to the 
purpose of this blog in a lot of ways.

There are so many different professions that involve agriculture. A few that I can think of off the top of my head are Farmers (of course), fishing, Zoology, Conservationist, Horticulturist, Landscaper (working with plants, right?), Veterinarian, and Park Rangers. Originally, I thought this list was pretty long, considering my knowledge of agriculture. 
   
What are the different agriculture professions and careers you can think of? Can you beat my list?
   
There seems to a lot of abundant lists stating careers that involve agriculture out there that contain even the slightest bit of it. This explains a lot about how important agriculture is to our everyday lives. Have you ever thought about how many different ingredients are in your food? How it's processed and where it comes from? Just a few thoughts to get your brain moving on this sunny Monday!


Here's a little video for you to check out- Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe :) Ostrich Farmers. Who knew? Enjoy!

Feature Friday: How Ag Ed is Important to Students

Kara Watson, a student at Illinois State University, was happy to talk with me about her choice as a career path and what led her to that decision! Kara is a super involved student who enjoys all facets of agriculture. She wants to be a high school ag teacher and an FFA Advisor. If you have any questions or comments for Kara, be sure to post!

Kayla: Did you grow up around agriculture?
Kara: I grew up in Rantoul Illinois a town just north of Champaign where the agricultural industry is very prevalent. I personally did not have a heavy agricultural background like my peers. I grew up in a rural area but not on a farm. I got my love of agriculture from my father who helped farm for my extented family and also worked on a cattle farm with my mother before I was born.

Kayla:Why did you decide to study agriculture? & Why is it important to you?
Kara: I decided to study agriculture during my time spent as an FFA member through high school. I learned all of the aspects of the agricultural industry and realized just how much it affects everyone's day to day life. I knew that agriculture was my calling and I stuck to it. I knew I never wanted to do anything else.

Kayla: What is your major & your intended career after graduation?
Kara: My major is Agricultural Education and I plan on becoming a high school agriculture teacher and FFA Advisor.

Kayla: What do you feel is the biggest issue facing the agricultural industry today?
Kara:I feel the biggest issue affecting the agricultural industry is misinformation. There is a lot of propoganda against the industry with false information that is given to the public which causes an unfortunate attitude toward agricultural science and progress. Companies and even celebrities are out there influencing the public negatively about our prized industry. It is our responsibility as agriculturalists to show the public that we are doing great things for society and that they should welcome the progressive achievements that we have made.

Kayla: How are you involved within your community and school? (Even High School?)
Kara: In college:

I have been involved with Collegiate FFA and PAS (Post Secondary Agriculture Students Organization) where I have acted as a officer for two years. I was on the National PAS qualifying QuizBowl team. 
Collegiate FFA/PAS was voted outstanding Small RSO of the Year for the ISU Campus last year.

I am also an ISU Agricultural Ambassador where I help the Agriculture Department with student recruitment.

In High School:
I was named the Rantoul Exchange Club Student of the Month for December 2007
In:
FFA
Student Council
Interact (community volunteering organization)
HelpPeers (a group that helped elementary school students with drug an alcohol awareness along with mentoring.)
Soccer Team
Wrestling Stats

Kayla: What do you think the most important part of Agriculture Education is?
Kara: The most important part of Agriculture Education, in my opinion, is understanding of the industry. There are three essential parts of Ag ED which are Classroom Instruction, SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience), and FFA. A student cannot have full understanding without each of the 3 essential parts. SAE's get the student out there and learning with hands on experiences, the FFA helps build leadership skills and breaks barriers between students and industry leaders, and classroom instruction helps lay the foundation of science, business, and mechanization.

Agriculture Education

As an Illinois State University student, I appreciate Agriculture Education! Even though I am not personally in the Agriculture field, it is extremely important to understand organic products, plants, and natural parts of the environment.
   I came across this video on the Illinois State Ag Education homepage and thought I would share this video with you! A big thanks to all the teachers out there who are educating students!

NASCAR: Speeding into Green

As most, if not all of you already know, NASCAR's best race took place yesterday: The Daytona 500. Not that I am a huge NASCAR fan, (because I'm not) but watching parts of the race with my dad (who is), got me thinking about how terrible these are must be for our environment. I did a little research and few things about yesterday's race caught my attention. How is are they planning on/ actually 'going green'? 


                                                                                                                A few things I came across were NASCAR's biggest ideas and accomplishments:
1. Building a more energy efficient car
   - This would help to reduce the amounts of Carbon Dioxide emitted by the engines and fuel during a race. The average race car emits 20 pounds of CO2 for every ONE gallon of fuel used. Is it just me, or would creating a new type of car be the BEST thing Nascar could do in the coming years?


2. Using Ethanol 
   - The use of Ethanol was present in this year's Daytona 500 race! This is great for a few reasons: one being ethanol is 15% of the fuel used in yesterday's race, and two being that this is great for corn farmers and the agriculture industry in general.


These tactics are only a few of the ways NASCAR intends to continue going green.
If you would like to find out more, I posted a few links for your enjoyment!
Sound Clip- Ethanol Running at Daytona 500
Going Solar
Finish Line Flags & Ethanol

For those of you who missed the race, Trevor Bayne is the winner of the 53rd annual Daytona 500!! (He's only 20 years old, too!)

Trevor Bayne Makes History in Capturing First Daytona 500 Victory 

How you can give back this Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is typically a day we use to celebrate relationships with loved ones by going to dinner and showing our affection through meaningful gifts. This year, why not help out those farm animals who have been rescued. By going to Farm Sanctuary's Website, you can learn more about how you can help out! 


Check out this article which also shows how you can help make a difference! 
Share a Valentine's Day Gift with Farm Sanctuary!
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/

Taken from Farm Sanctuary's website

Burrrrrr!

Happy Thursday everyone! As most of you probably know, it's FREEZING outside! If you have been following the news at all lately, you may also notice how cold and inconvenient the weather is in our southern states. Texas, for example, is experiencing record lows for this time of year, as well as snow!

I came across this video/article from www.myfoxaustin.com that portrays how those local farmers are dealing with the cold and how it's affecting their everyday farming activities.

Stay warm!

Super Bowl Sunday: Agriculture EVERYWHERE!

As I am sure it is the same with most of you, I enjoy Super Bowl Sunday! I enjoy the food, friends, family, and the excitement of the game, of course! I stumbled across this very interesting article from agweb.com which may interest you as well. Before reading, challenge yourself to figure out what parts of the big game are influenced, or made possible by different types of farmers and agriculture. Some of the findings are surprising!

Check out the link to see if you got any right!
www.agweb.com

How Some Are Surviving the Blizzard of 2011

Blizzard brings snow, new foal Horses and other livestock require a little extra help during blizzard conditions in Oklahoma, experts say.

My roommates and I have survived the snow! We are snowed in for the time being!

We are hoping to go out and play later!