Our opinion: National FFA Week — a time to celebrate our future agricultural producers

It might not be obvious why agricultural producers love what they do.

After all, their toil often begins before the sun comes up and, thanks to headlights on tractors and combines, doesn’t have to end when it goes down. They work in muddy, bug-infested fields and stinky, poop-laden pastures and barns. And work needs done when it needs done, without regard to holidays or plans, inclement weather or numbers on a clock.

But what farmers and ranchers know about their vocation is this: The production cycle that begins with a seed or a birth and ends with a harvest or a sale is as satisfying as the day is long.

More common than in other careers, agriculture is often a family affair. Farms and ranches get passed down through generations, and sons and daughters often work the same ground their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did. So, youngsters getting their agricultural feet wet (literally, in the flooded rice fields of the Bootheel) at an early age is nothing new — especially in this area.

Southeast Missouri — like its neighbors in the southern half of Illinois, the eastern half of Arkansas, western Tennessee and western Kentucky — is home to a variety of agricultural pursuits, from rice, corn, cotton and soybean fields to chicken and turkey houses to cattle ranches dotting the landscape.

As these young farmhands grow into their high school years, many of them join their local Future Farmers of America chapter. They learn hands-on production skills, as well as fundamental business practices and accounting methods.

We fondly remember our FFA days. Learning the value of sweat equity from our yearslong project and understanding that financial reward can follow but isn’t guaranteed. Raising funds as a group in order to attend conferences and conventions. Learning to respect the power inherent in a welding machine or a table saw. And proudly slipping on that navy blue jacket with the emblem on the back.

FFA chapters nurture young people the way farmers nurture their crops and herds. They plant the seed of interest, fertilize it with knowledge and encouragement and harvest confident, capable agricultural producers, ready to set out on their own fulfilling career.

National FFA Week runs Feb. 15-22, and we enthusiastically embrace this opportunity to showcase our young people — and those who instruct them — in their agricultural pursuits.

We know the value of that work and the lessons it teaches, and we believe agricultural education helps form a foundation upon which young people can build toward their future of providing our nation, and the world, with a safe and abundant supply of food and fiber.