Agriculture is one of the most important backgrounds that any of us can have as it relates directly to how the world lives, whether you notice or not. 

We need to eat somehow, and we can’t live unless we have producers and agriculturalists supplying food.  No matter how low the cattle markets are or how high the price of corn is, the demand for food is something that will never go away.

The demand for agriculturalists brought me here to SDSU, just like many others, to pursue a degree in agriculture.  There are many different paths and opportunities in this field, and it needs people like us to fulfill those obligations, to feed the world and to improve agriculture in general.

My life has been influenced by agriculture in many different ways, through FFA, work and family.  Through FFA I learned how to judge livestock, actively play a role in parliamentary procedure and be a leader for my community.

I know that it’s one of the seven deadly sins, but I am a proud person.  

I’m proud to live in the great state of South Dakota.  I’m proud to be involved in agriculture.  I’m proud to promote it.  I’m proud that I woke up every morning this summer and worked until dusk.  I’m proud to know what my dad is talking about when he rambles on about the markets and discusses economical strategies to better his business.  I’m proud to be attending SDSU and studying a field that I appreciate and respect.

I am proud that I am not alone, and that there are people out there that wake up and work cattle, work in the fields, milk cows, put in fences, or load pigs at the break of dawn.  They should also be proud of themselves because agriculture needs those individuals to take itself to the next level, to be more than just a behind-the-scenes energizer that serves as the backbone of America’s economy.

Believe it or not, we are the next generation and it’s not just our communities back home, it’s the whole world that is counting on us to provide and strive for a better and more efficient agricultural world.

I am very blessed to have been brought up in a household that valued hard work and appreciated farming.  I’ve been working on a commercial feedlot and cow-calf operation for years as a farmhand for my dad and grandpa.  I knew I hadn’t put in a day’s work until I was sweating, covered in oil stains, or my boots were muddy.  No one can take away those feelings of satisfaction that I received from those days.  Whether it would be that I finished a stretch of fence, or brought cow and calf pairs in from a blizzard to the shed in the middle of April, I felt like I made a difference to better our operation. I am excited to share columns in the future about my passion for the agricultural community and my personal values. 

 

Luke Eide is majoring in agricultural business. He can be reached at [email protected]