Farmers Want a Hand-Up not a Hand-Out

I worked on the most recent presidential campaign as the chief policy advisor and national co-chair. Among my many duties were those associated with developing policies that would become part of the platform upon which the candidate would campaign. One of those planks focused on community building. The objective was to develop programs and policies that would restore community institutions and human capital so that these communities would be less dependent on government. This would mean taking a hard look at education, enterprise zones, community policing, affordable and accessible day care, available healthcare and organizations that would alleviate the need for government intervention. At the heart of these initiatives was the need to build human capital. Today, some 35,000 students graduate each year with degrees related to agriculture. Unfortunately, the demand is 60,000, so year after year the nation falls 25,000 graduates short in meeting the needs of feeding an anxious and hungry world. That 25,000 is just the surface number, as countless thousands more are needed with technical training to meet the needs of modern farming techniques. The Department of Agriculture and the White House should be aware of these needs. Why, then, have they not thought about investing in the long term by taking some of the bailout money and feeding it to our land grant institutions around the country? These schools could reach into the surrounding rural communities to enhance STEM education, vocational programs and stronger agricultural education programs at the K12 to graduate level. What seems to be an even better investment, rather than feeding the funds to already rich and thriving “ag” programs like those found at Texas A&M, Cal-Davis and Kansas State, one should focus on reaching out to underrepresented populations and making strong investments in those schools and communities. What I am talking about is investing in the Historically Black Colleges and Universities land grant schools (19 of them), the Tribal Colleges and the Hispanic Serving Institutions with agriculture programs. Imagine the impact that $100 million dollars might have when distributed to those schools. Imagine the power of building strong STEM programs in those communities that support these institutions. Imagine the impact of this type of investment on agriculture for the next generation.

The $100 million dollars is less than one percent of the $12 billion proposed in the administration’s plan. That $100 million, invested every year through the Department of Agriculture to our minority serving institutions, will quite literally change the face—and future—of agriculture in this country and the world. If the administration would step up and start this program, private industry would eagerly jump on the bandwagon. Why? Because it would be in their interest to have a seat at the table. All of the major agriculture-related companies would be elbowing each other out of the way to get to the head of the line to help. John Deere, Caterpillar, Cargill, General Foods and a host of others would be on board—all wanting to claim credit for building the next generation of agriculture scientists and technicians. I would hope that someone in the administration would read this so that they could find their way to common sense and give rural America a hand up and not a hand out. America’s farmers don’t want charity. They want a partnership that will endure and a long-term investment that will truly make a difference.