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by Jayden McMillian

Without agriculture, how would this world progress? There is not an answer; the world would be in a dire situation without agriculture. So much that we buy and consume is only available due to agriculture.

Agriculture is the world’s largest industry. It employs more than one billion people and generates over $1.3 trillion dollars worth of food annually.

When you hear the word “agriculture,” you probably think of crops and livestock, but these numbers show you that agriculture is also providing people with some very stable jobs outside of crops and livestock.

Whether or not someone notices it, almost everything thrives from agriculture from restaurants to clothing stores. For example, cotton production becomes new and trending fashionwear and work done in forestry provides the world with wood for construction and paper products. Now you get the concept of the role that agriculture plays in our lives.

The next time you are walking through a grocery store or a clothing department, look at all of the things produced by agriculture. It is surrounding you everywhere you go

The second paragraph of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Creed states, “I believe that to live and work on a good farm, or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.” This quote recognizes the importance of people with agricultural occupations and the hard work that they put in to make our world a better place. Agriculture provides benefits on a basic, economic, and developmental level.

Now, can you imagine living without agriculture?

** Jayden McMillian is a junior at McKenzie High School, McKenzie, Alabama. He is president of his school’s chapter of the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Organization and serves as reporter for the Southern District of Alabama FFA. McMillian is an advocate for FFA and the importance of agriculture. FFA gives students hands on, real life experiences to apply what they have learned through SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience). McMillian’s SAE is Agricultural Communications.