To those of you who are fellow Wildcats, I’m sure you’re aware of a certain journalist for the Collegian who has a reputation for writing biased, unfounded articles that are often anti-ag. There is a significant lack of research done before she writes her commentaries and she has backed out of a tour of the school’s animal units in order to familiarize herself with common animal production practices.
After the third anti-ag article published in the Collegian within 2 weeks- I was pissed. I wanted to submit an article to the paper, however the Collegian doesn’t accept articles from people not on staff – this posed a problem. So I drafted an article and contacted Chuck Jolley, columnist for CattleNetwork.com, and asked him how I could go about getting my ideas out to an audience. He surprised me by publishing my entire article in his Oct. 26th post “Is the Anti-Ag Disease Spreading to K-State?” Click here to read my article in Jolley’s column.
We, as agriculturalists, need to speak up about our industry. Contact your local Congressman when policy decisions that affect our precious industry are up for discussion. They’re in that elected position because we put them there – they’ll at least listen to what you have to say, although they might not always follow your advice. Engage consumers about the health benefits of eating beef, pork and poultry. Assure them that producers utilize safe, best management practices to make our food supply more abundant so we can feed the world. The time for action is now. I think Dr. Dan Thomson, DVM and KSU Clinical Sciences professor said it best when he stated, “I am ready to fight. I am ready to go on the offense. I’m tired of playing defense.”
Are you ready to fight for your industry and way of life? You better be.
Until next time,
~Buzzard~