It’s a family.
It’s a family. Nothing more, nothing less.
When we set out a little over two years ago to start a fundraiser for the Georgia FFA Foundation I felt it would go over well with the circumstances of COVID-19, but I was unsure of its long-term future. I genuinely never thought that 2 years later I’d be writing a blog for the Support Georgia Agriculture website and have raised nearly $80,000 in donations that directly benefit the students of the Georgia FFA.
I grew up in a small town in middle Georgia called Sandersville. It’s an old agriculture community that has since become home to kaolin plants and trucking companies that service the world. While agriculture is still a large part of many peoples’ lives around Washington County, it doesn’t touch an overwhelming amount of the community. With farm sizes increasing and less people involved in ag on a daily basis, fewer and fewer people understand what it takes to put food on the table and clothes on their backs.
In my opinion, the future of ag is brighter than ever. After being involved with the ag industry over the past 2 years through events, meeting students, selecting agvocates, and working with some of the great people of ag education in Georgia, I feel confident the future of ag is in good hands. In our society nowadays, people are looking for quick success and these folks are in it for the long haul. From farmers and ranchers to students and teachers, people in ag truly care. They care about now, they care about the past, and they care about the future.
To be a small part of ensuring the future of ag is a blessing that can only be described as priceless. The students of today will be feeding and clothing my grandchildren one day. It’s more than making sure we have food and fiber for today. It’s making sure that there is food and fiber for years to come. Preserving a lifestyle of caring for the land, producing a crop, and running a business as a farmer, rancher, logger, or any other ag-related job is tough but vital. Without agriculture, we become hungry, naked & frankly fail as a society.
The family of the ag industry is tight-knit, held together by a desire to care for something, and is raising a generation that I am confident will leave it better than they found it. Take time to get to know people in ag, learn their stories, ask about their future, and support them along the way. While I am still new to the ag family in Georgia, the people who have helped us get to where we are now part of our family.
Thank you for a great first two years of Support Georgia Agriculture. We couldn’t do this without you.
Zeke Chapman