Yesterday, a friend let me know that their was a questionable article in the Collegian - K-State's student run newspaper. The article, an opinion piece, was another inaccurate attack on agriculture and there are three things that really bothered me about this article.
1. The author, Beth Mendenhall, gives an uninformed version of the truth. Now I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinions and freedom of speech. However, when you disguise your version of the truth you have now wrongly educated others.
2. People forget where they came from. I think people on this campus have forgotten that K-State used to be called the Kansas State Agriculture College. Our school is known for its renowned contributions to agriculture practices around the world. We are also one of the largest colleges on campus. It has has been implied before that if you don't have the College of Ag behind you, whether you are running for Student Body President, University Ambassador, scholarships, etc., you aren't going to go very far. But despite all this we have unappreciative people that choose to slander our profession. I have no problem with those that choose not to eat meat, but you better remember where the clothes on your back came from, and all the other animal byproducts that influence your day.
3. I am a little disappointed in the College of Ag. So far there has only been 64 comments on this story, and there are how many people at K-State that somehow depend on agriculture? Its the worst thing we do in our industry - complain and moan to each other, but don't take the time to form a response directed towards those people we are calling misinformed. We should be stepping up and educating others that don't have the same experiences and opportunities to learn firsthand what agriculture is all about. I really hope that I can have faith in my old college professors and deans this morning, that they will be talking about this with their students. What a great learning opportunity it could be, because these kinds of anti-agriculture articles aren't going away anytime soon.
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