Canada’s agricultural colleges and universities deserve loud praise for the energy they have poured into re-imagining post-secondary ag education. But not everything is new.
In fact, the whole farm education sector has responded impressively at a time when it must seem that everything is in constant change.
Technology has changed how programs can be delivered, yet this is simple compared to the deeper thinking that has been required to keep up with changes in educational research and theory, and changes too in what farmers and the rapidly evolving world of agriculture need.
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If this sounds like mere words, I encourage you to read the stories in this issue on college and university education, and pay very close attention to the young people who our writers have interviewed.
I also recommend sounding out the students in your area and in your extended family as well. They might respond with some very generalized answers at first, but my experience is, if they see that you are genuinely interested, they’ll take you on a very worthwhile journey.
The rate of change we’re seeing in other educational forums is impressive too. For an eye-opener, read Julienne Isaac’s article from our November issue, including its section on the upcoming ELLE program. This would not have been thinkable only a short while ago.
It’s true too of the #FTA Day Transition Appreciation Day scheduled January 11th, an excellent opportunity to come together on social media to share stories, solutions and encourage others through farm succession.
Through this winter you’ll also read more in the pages of Country Guide about educational opportunities that reveal how much has changed in the past few years, and will change in the next few.
At the same time, I can’t tell you how impressed I am that our educational programs have injected business into programs that remain firmly rooted in the barn and the field.
I had to reach way back — all the way back to 2012 — to find a Country Guide article by Anne Lazurko that has coloured my thinking ever since. She had interviewed McGill’s Henry Mintzberg, who had as good a
claim as anyone to be Canada’s top business prof.
You’d think Mintzberg would tell her how important it is to think in business terms, which he did but mainly in a backhand sort of way.
“The fact is, we’re living in a time when it seems nothing but business matters,” Mintzberg said. “Art, health care, everything is made into a business. I think that’s a mistake.
“Seeing farming as only a business is probably a mistake too,” he said. “People keep saying it’s a business, but it’s a calling.”
Watch for it as you read Rebecca Hannam’s cross-country educational survey (“Professional Farming“). Our colleges and universities are responding to that sense of calling too. It helps explain why their full classrooms are full.
No one believes more deeply than Guide in the importance of business to farming. The next generation sees this too. But they see more as well. It’s a great thing to witness.
Are we getting it right? Let me know at [email protected].
