Monday, September 29, 2014

Imagining a Better Future: Young People and Agriculture




When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? A police officer? A professional athlete? A lawyer or doctor? Professions like these seemed cool at one time, and then maybe lost their appeal over the years. What changed? Maybe it was adult understanding winning out over childhood musings, or maybe it was the influence of others around you - family, friends, or peers. But however you got to your current work, you had to envision at some point that it was a possibility. That imagination can go a long way in people's lives and careers.

Food Tank has a great article (which you can check out here) describing a rapidly increasing problem: youth unemployment. As the article indicates, the UN predicts that globally, there will be 74.2 million unemployed young people this year. In a number of cases, farming may be the best professional choice for them to own their own businesses and lift their families out of poverty. 

With new technological innovations in farming, young people are the perfect candidates to learn the vocational and business skills needed to become the farmers of the future. Agriculture provides great economic opportunities for a demographic having difficulties finding jobs in other sectors. Farming also provides communities with access to fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables. In short, farming is a path that can improve the lives of individuals and communities.

Share this article with your friends and visit the Eliminate Poverty NOW website to learn how EPN and the industrious youth of the Farmers of the Future program are working to make farming a path that young people dream about and a path they can stick with.

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