Today is my older sister Sam's 20th birthday. She is no longer a teenager, and it seems every year her life is making her become more and more of an adult. She was part of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association's Cattlemen's Young Leaders program as well as the Five Nations Beef Alliance Young Rancher's program this past year, and since than has spoken a great deal about getting our story out to our consumers and how important it is as farmers to get involved in the industry and to speak out! Another thing that she always mentions is the rising age and the declining population of farmers, not only in our area, but all over the world.
With a declining amount of farmers and a rising age, soon we will have none left. Imagine a world without farmers. There would be little to know food, not only meat products, but also vegetables and grain products.
This really woke me up to that issue, one which I had never really pondered.
The Summer Synergy Livestock Show makes me feel like there is hope for our industry, after all, we are the future of the industry! The Summer Synergy show is a show which was started to "synergize" (join) many of the already established livestock shows, as well, to join different types of show animals so that we could all learn about one another and get to meet new people.
What a fabulous idea! Have young ranchers from all different backgrounds such as: sheep, beef cattle, dairy cattle and heavy horse, join together to compete. This helps the youth to all meet new people, and potentially new business partners! It also helps to inform and involve youth about different breeds of animals, as well as different types of animals! If the young ranchers can figure out how to work together and work in harmony with one another, what a great industry we will have in a few years! As a young rancher, I know I am the future, and I love that idea!
Want to hear from some more young ranchers?? Check out this video filmed at the National Western Stockshow, my sister speaks in it! These young adults are the near future!
Hope you liked the video! I sure did! Now I must get back to my sister's birthday! Thanks for reading!
- Jess
