November 2023
By Kirstin Koch, Extension Educator, Youth Development
Telling the story of agriculture has become popular on social media over the past few years with the YouTube Farmers, the farm wife bloggers, the kid book authors and the podcast stars. In our corner of the world, we can list a handful of influential podcasts and YouTube stars that are sharing the story of real world agriculture everyday! It is a great time to learn about and share about agriculture! 4-H youth have a unique opportunity to provide a look into the animal agriculture world for thousands of Minnesotans each year. How? Through our project learning and fair opportunities at the local and state levels.
Our local county fairs and the state fair are a wonderful window into the livestock world for fair goers. Livestock barns are one of the most popular places to visit at most fairs and quite often, the exhibits are 4-H animals. A critical component of the 4-H livestock experience for both the exhibitors and visitors is the way in which they interact with each other. Across Minnesota, youth have the opportunity to learn more about crafting their message of animal agriculture through several 4-H programs prior to the fairs. Empowering youth livestock exhibitors to share their knowledge is a passion of mine and here are a few opportunities that were coordinated out of the WCROC this year.
One of those offerings is the Livestock Quality Assurance program; one of the sessions youth engage in is a hands-on session around crafting and sharing their story as livestock exhibitors and producers. Annually, nearly 2500 Minnesota 4-H members participate in this session. Through the Speaking Up for Animal Agriculture session, youth learn the importance of sharing their story of animal agriculture, why it is important to share what they have learned and how to share their passion in an informative manner. In addition, as part of the State Fair 4-H Livestock experience, youth participate in an educational podcast and livestock interview. The topic of focus this year was Speaking Up for Animal Agriculture: Sharing Your Passion and Story! This year over 2100 youth participated in the podcast and interview process. They learned from three Minnesota agriculture advocates on why and how they share their agriculture stories.
Another way 4-H members are encouraged to share their passion of livestock and speak up for animal ag is through digital opportunities too! Youth can participate in the 4-H Stock Talks each summer, by creating a short video to share anything they would like about their livestock project! Youth craft a message, rehearse their presentation and share an educational video about an livestock topic of their choice. A few favorites this year included how to wash a chicken, how to safely catch a horse, a show and tell of different breeds of pigs, just to name a few! This is the fourth year of this opportunity and you can check out a few of the fun videos on the Minnesota 4-H YouTube page! These are just a few of the opportunities 4-H youth had this summer to share their livestock passion!
So, why do we emphasize the importance of 4-H youth sharing their story of animal agriculture? Farm and ranch families comprise less than 2% of the overall U.S. population, yet one farm feeds 166 people annually both domestically and abroad, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. This provides an amazing opportunity for 4-Hers to share what they know with consumers. Whether they are raising livestock to show as 4-H projects or their family is also raising livestock on a larger scale, they are livestock producers. As fewer and fewer people live on farms, work in agriculture or work with livestock, there are more and more people who do not know how livestock are raised and cared for. What a great opportunity for youth to share about something they devote so much of their time, energy and passion to, animal agriculture!