Looking to Farming's Future 

Two themes emerged in this week's agricultural news - getting young people involved and the role that technology has and will play in farming's future. We believe these two topics are inter-connected and invite you to read this week's "Super Six" to learn more.

• A group of 4Hers met this week with a House Agriculture Committee subcommittee to present their take on the future of agriculture in the United States. The Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research hearing focused on how youth involved in 4-H can help address the future of agriculture, as reported by farmfutures.com. 

• Eight 4-H members also went to the White House to tell their inspiring stories on how they are opening up new doors for kids in their hometowns, according to a blog post by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

• We will need their enthusiasm, commitment, and willing embrace of technology to meet the many challenges facing the farming industry, including environmental issues which are at the forefront in California right now with water supply issues. U-T San Diego comes to the defense of agriculture which has come under heavy fire for the amount of water used to irrigate crops.

• A related story in The Sacramento Bee discusses "the apparent disconnect" between Gov. Brown’s focus on urban water use and the fact that agriculture – not cities or towns – accounts for roughly 80 percent of all water used by people in California.

• In another environmental story

  state lawmakers in North Carolina want to give beehives a boost

  given the critical role that bees play in crop pollination, according to wral.com.

• Finally, Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Science is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its biological and agricultural engineering department with the publishing of a historical book by Texas A&M historian Henry Dethloff. The book, titled Engineering Agriculture at Texas A&M: The First 100 Years, focuses on the role that technology played in revolutionizing the field of agriculture over the past 100 years, according to theeagle.com.

If you think farming technology has come a long way in the past 100 years, and it has, we can't imagine what will take place in the next 10 to 20 years alone. The young people of today will be at the forefront of this revolution, thanks in large part to organizations such as 4-H and FFA. We've had the opportunity to meet several of these youth through our fundraising programs at NTPA tractor pull events; we believe our future is in good hands!

On a related note, it was not that long ago that farmers knew little about the consequences of soil compaction on their crop yields. Today, we know that soil compaction is an invisible epidemic sapping profits from millions of acres of American farmland. Check out our free white paper on soil compaction and be at the forefront of the latest research regarding this important topic.