The youngest advisor for US Department of Agriculture says “The most important tool on the farms is not just Tractors and Wrenches it’s my cell phone.”
A young macon county farmer Adam Brown will be one of 20 agriculturists from around the nation advising the US department of agriculture. WCIA 3 agriculture reporter Stu Ellis has a report from the farm.
Adam Brown: The Advisory Committee for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers is going to advise the Secretary on some ideas we have, not only to get new folks into the agriculture production industry, but to facilitate this industry for longevity purposes, further down the road.
Stu Ellis: When you meet with the Secretary, what ideas are you going to be pitching to him?
Adam Brown: Well for me it is going to be two fold. I really think it is important to have connectivity in today the most important tool on the farm is not a tractor or combine or wrench. It’s actually my cell phone. And I use my cell phone day in and day out to make phone calls, check emails. So connectivity is going to be important, but not only via phones and internet service, but also for trade purposes. 95% of our industry has to market to consumers outside of the US. So for us we need to open up the markets and we need to offer a relationship that is going to be pivotal in turning those markets our direction.
Stu Ellis: And the future of 2-3 generations out could be faced with climate change. Where does that fit on your chart?
Adam Brown: For us, we are going to have to take a look at warmer weather crops probably; we also have to take a look at the volatility in the weather. We have seen that definitely this year. It’s impacted our yields, it’s made our yields extremely variable. And so we need to be adaptable on the farm front.
Stu Ellis: Our congratulations to Adam Brown, a newly appointed member of USDA and Ranchers Committee. That our report from the Farm.
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