Show Me the Money
Over the last several years, the Edgar County Farm Bureau Foundation has held several fundraisers to help provide scholarships to youth. Last year the Foundation offered an additional scholarship to a student who was returning to school to further their education. Total funds offered last year were $1500.00. One $1000.00 scholarship and one $500.00 scholarship.
This year the Edgar County Farm Bureau Foundation is giving away even more money in scholarships. We will be awarding 3 scholarships this year that will total $3500.00. One will be awarded in the amount of $2000.00, a second one will be given in the amount of $1000.00 and the third will be in the amount of $500.00.
The application can be found online on our website at http://edgarcountyfarmbureau.org/FoundationScholarshipOpportunties.aspx
The deadline for the applications to be submitted is March 30, 2012, no later than 4:00 P.M. Please call (217) 465-5811 for any questions or further information.
Be Careful What You Say or Print
My parents taught me to always choose words wisely and yesterday I really think that Yahoo.com should have used that very simple lesson.
I will admit, I am a pretty frequent visitor to the news section on Yahoo. I like to read what is going on in the world. For the most part they do a great job of having a variety of stories, however after reading a story on there yesterday about, “College Degrees that Are Useless,” I got a little fired up to say the least. It was particularly interesting that the author, Terence Loose, stated that Agriculture was the number one useless degree, quickly followed by Animal Science and Horticulture, all degrees within Agriculture. He said in his article that students with theses majors would not have jobs when they graduated.
I found this quote in the article particularly interesting,
“It’s true that farms are becoming more efficient now and so there is less of a need for farm managers,” he says. That means less jobs. In fact, the U.S. Department of Labor projects 64,000 fewer jobs in this field over the next seven years.
What the author failed to mention was that, although jobs in production agriculture (farming) may not be as plentiful due to the effienciency of farming, there is still need for employees with degrees in agriculture business who have the job titles of agriculture lenders, farm managers, those in the plant food industry, and equipment dealers; those who have training in technology to help farmers with GPS, monitors, etc.; those who have experience in marketing grain and livestock. Oh and what about those engineers who help develop and test the new equipment for farmers to use?
One other area of the article that I found interesting was the number of Animal Scientists in 2008 was 3,700, however this field is to grow by 500 people between the years of 2008 to 2018. If the degree is useless, then why is there positive growth?
In closing, I know there is positive growth in the field of Agriculture. In fact, there are more than 23 million jobs in the Agriculture field. This number makes up more than 17% of the civilian workforce. Remember those in Agriculture are feeding and clothing the world!
It’s About to Get A Little CRAZY Around Here!!
Please accept my sincere appologies for not having a more recent post, however I hope you will understand that my husband and I have been on vacation to Denver, Colorado. My staff was pretty shocked that I didn’t check in to the office by phone once and I only checked e-mails twice while we were gone for seven days.
So why the title? I find it a little humorous that many people will come into the office and say to me, “Well the farmers aren’t doing anything, you must not have anything to do either.” The interesting thing is, this time of year while it may appear that farmers aren’t working in the fields, they are in fact very busy people. You may wonder what they are up to on these cold winter days and chances are they are making decisions for the Spring crop that will be planted in a few months, accepting delivery of the bags of seed corn and seed beans, determining what type of plant nutrition program they will utilize, and completing the necessary tax paperwork for their operation. What about those who have livestock on their farm? Those farmers don’t get a break either. Livestock needs feed and water everyday. On the really cold days the water tanks need to be freed from ice so the animals can get a drink and many times the farmers will go out into the elements and break ice three or four times a day. So although it may not appear that farmers are “working” they in fact are. It just isn’t as obvious as in the spring and fall.
This time of year for Farm Bureau is very busy. Since the farmers are out of the field and are making important decisions, we offer many types of educational seminars to help them make those crucial decisions. I encourage you to check out our website at www.edgarcountyfarmbureau.org for all the upcoming meetings and events. There are too many events to put into a blog post, so go check it out! This year’s lineup is something you certainly don’t want to miss.
Also, if you haven’t made reservations for the Annual Meeting, please do so soon!
Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you!
Toys, Toys, and more Toys–proceeds going to a GREAT Cause!
Close your eyes and picture with me hotel room after hotel room filled with farm toys? Well if you don’t have plans this weekend, make your imagination come to life at the District 12 Toy Show in Urbana, Illinois.
Edgar, Champaign, Vermilion, and Douglas County Young Leaders are offering their annual toy show at the Holiday Inn in Urbana. The show will run from Friday through Sunday this weekend! The vendors will be set up and ready for business starting at 5:00 P.M. Friday night and the show will close at 9:00 P.M.
On Saturday, make the day a family event. The show opens again at 9:00 A.M. with the live auction starting at 10:30, and the pedal pull at 12:30. We will be having local celebrities join in the pull, so you definately won’t want to miss out on all the fun! The show will close at 5:00 P.M.
On Sunday, the show runs from 9:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. There is no admission on Sunday, but the counties will be accepting a free will donation to go to Ag in the Classroom in place of an admission charge.
Check out the flier below for more information! We hope to see you there!
After A Little Encouragement—WE ARE LIVE!!
Welcome to the blog of the Edgar County Farm Bureau! This will be a place where you can find lots of information on agriculture topics, upcoming meetings, what the Edgar County Farm Bureau is offering, and what is happening on the farm with a few guest bloggers. And really anything else we can come up with!
For the most part many of the blogs will be written by me, Sarah Reedy, the Manager of the Edgar County Farm Bureau. I have been managing the Farm Bureau since September of 2004, prior to that I was a Manager Trainee with the Illinois Farm Bureau from June 2004 until I was hired by Edgar County. I am originally from West Central Illinois where I grew up on a grain and livestock farm. I attended Lake Land College and the University of Illinois where I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science in the Farm and Financial Management Option. My husband, Kyle and I can be found many weekends helping on our parents’ farms or working in the barn on our Shorthorn cattle.
So, why the title? The President of the Edgar County Farm Bureau, Terry Sturgell, tried to get me to start a blog well over a year ago. I had my doubts and quite frankly put it off out of fear. Fear of people not being interested in the product we have to offer, fear of low readership, and the fear of failure. Well, I have gotten into reading blogs lately and really look forward to what the different authors are going to put out next. So yes, the fears are still there, but I have put my big girl pants on and tried to get over the fear thing and thus our blog is live!
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