The Public Needs to be Educated About Agriculture

1. The Public Needs to be Educated About Agriculture Stephanie Stade "In the last 15 years, it occurred to me that the public no longer knows what farming and ranching is all about. The wonderful image we (producers) used to have in this field of just being the best that America has to offer has been lost. One hundred years ago, 25 percent of us were in agriculture. Today, only 2.5 percent of us are," said Lehr.

2. Food Prices in U.S. • Only about 10% of families budgets in the U.S. are spent on food • Over 50 percent of a families budget is spent on food in developing countries

3. PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 3 million members and supporters. PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which they think the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry. They also work on a variety of other issues, including the “cruel” killing of beavers, birds, and other "pests" as well as cruelty to domesticated animals

4. PETA Continued…

5. Yahoo • Yahoo posted an article in 2012 rating agriculture degrees #1 for most useless. • The public is so uneducated that they don’t understand that no other industry can provide the necessities our population needs to survive except agriculture

6. Educating the public • If the public does not get educated about the basics of agriculture, there won’t be an end to agriculture but there likely could be an end to how we know agriculture now and how we live it