WASHINGTON — This week, March 17-23, all Individuals are inspired to take a second and acknowledge how the nation’s agricultural industries contribute to all our each day lives, in so many facets, from meals, to gas, to fiber.
Greater than 22 million full- and part-time jobs are associated to agriculture and the meals sector, which equals about 10 p.c of all the nation’s employment, the USDA’s Financial Analysis notes, including that there are about 2.6 million on-farm jobs within the U.S., which represents simply over 1 p.c of U.S. employment.
Yesterday, March 19, was this yr’s Nationwide Agriculture Day, with the theme of “Agriculture: Rising a Local weather for Tomorrow.”
There have been a number of in-person actions in Washington, D.C., the place highschool and faculty college students delivered messages to legislators on the significance of agriculture.
“College students are inquisitive about advocating on behalf of agriculture and their future roles within the business,” Jenny Pickett, Agricultural Council of America president, mentioned. “Their participation in Nationwide Ag Day actions supplies a glimpse of the way forward for agriculture. It’s thrilling to study from the scholars what they assume agriculture can be like within the years forward, and the way their involvement will form the business and America as a complete.”
College students in search of careers within the area are additionally branching out to many diversified pursuits and industries.
“Increasingly more, college students and people are discovering careers in agriculture,” Pickett added. “The business wants scientists, biologists, meals security technicians, livestock vitamin specialists, arborists, conservationists — one doesn’t need to be a farmer or have a direct on-farm job to be concerned within the agriculture business.”
ACA provides that this yr marks the 51st anniversary of Nationwide Agriculture Day and its efforts in sharing agriculture’s story countrywide.
“From the meals we eat and the gas for our automobiles, to the fiber within the garments we put on, and the oil used to make youngsters’ crayons, agriculture touches everybody in a roundabout way,” Pickett mentioned.
