My name is Jessica Stratton and I was born and raised in Iron County. I grew up on a small farm in Parowan, Utah where I was able to raise a variety of animals and crops. I love agriculture and understand the importance it has in our every day lives. Agriculture provides the world with food, fiber, and pharmacuticals, as well as much more. Without agriculture, the world we know now would not exist.
SUU has provided its students an opportunity to create and EDGE project. The EDGE requirement for the university has each student learn about the EDGE program, come up with a project, carry out the project, and then report back. I am in the final stage where I have completed my project and want to share what I have learned.
My project was called "Agriculture in the Community," specifically Iron County, UT. Because of my background in Agriculture, I was curious about the agriculture education in my community. I have an Associates Degree in Animal and Dairy Science from USU and will gain my Bachelors in Agriculture Science and Industries from SUU this coming May. With my education in agriculture, I have seen problems associated with the subject. More and more people are becoming disconnected with agriculture. It isn't deemed as important and some people even fight against the practices of agriculture. I have witnessed first hand the problems regarding agriculture and it scares me. The general public doesn't seem to understand what agriculture is, what it does for them, or even that they are involved in it.
For my project I contacted the schools in Iron County (Parowan, Cedar, and Canyon View High Schools) and asked if I could speak to those directly involved in agriculture education. I was able to interview the teachers, advisors, and Principals connected with these schools and they helped me understand the struggles, accomplishments, course material, future plans and much more concerning agriculture education. From what I could see, there are many people associated with agriculture education who want the best for the students interested in the subject. I was also able to give a PowerPoint presentation to some students in agriculture classes and educate them a little bit more about agriculture in the community.
Going into this project, I was very concerned about the direction the education of this important subject was going. After conducting my project, I can see there are many individuals that care about it just as much as I do. I believe there is a future of agriculture and I hope I can do my part to help.
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