Farmers are Uneducated

This is a persistent myth and one we need to bust. The days are long gone when you learned everything you needed to know about farming from your grandfather. That doesn’t mean we discount grandpa’s advice, born from years and years of experience. It does mean that today’s farmers need post-high school training in a variety of areas: animal science, agronomy, environmental science, business, marketing, communications, perhaps even law and psychology. Today’s farmers also need to be life-long learners. If you have been on a farm recently, you’ve probably seen a farmer using his cell phone in the field to make decisions about planting or applying fertilizers. That’s the kind of on-the-job training every farmer needs these days to stay competitive and make a profit.