FFA SENTINEL
Alabama FFA state officers and FFA members from the Wetumpka and Tallassee FFA chapters are guests of commissioner Rick Pate the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.
Alabama FFA Participates in the Alabama Bicentennial Parade and Looks to the Future Two hundred years as a state, wow! Alabama has seen a lot of change in that time. Agriculture has seen a lot change in that time. Alabama became part of the union on Dec. 14, 1819, and it is only fitting that we celebrate this occasion on Dec. 14, 2019. Agriculture has always been a part of the economy of Alabama even before it was a territory. Native Americans practiced techniques such as slash and burn agriculture. This is a practice where forests were cleared to make room for patches of corn, squash and other crops. The Spanish recorded the savannahs found as they traveled north, remains of the agrarian society who left it. As more immigrants made their way into Alabama, they found varying soil types suited to a variety of different crops. Alabama’s waterways provided a means of getting crops to markets. With the 1700s came a great revolution for both agriculture and industry. With the desire for cotton, agriculture drove industrial improvements. By 1906, John Deere took his plow’s success and began developing steam-powered tractors. Production soared and crops were shipped by rail and barge. Just think about where we are now. Cattle in 67 counties, leaders in the nation in poultry and forest products, peanuts, catfish, with over 9 million acres 26
Cooperative Farming News
in Alabama considered farmland and cash receipts of over 5 billion dollars. Agriculture is still a viable industry and the good news of our industry should be shared with our citizens. It is true that in this day and age agriculture is more than farming, but in farming alone we are seeing GPS and GIS in self-driven equipment, computers calculating and projecting yield variations in crop land, advances in animal health, pesticide and herbicide use, and so much more on the way. Look how far we have come. Agriculture education has changed and is changing as well. To meet the needs of industry and labor market demands of our state and continue to educate students and parents about traditional production, agriculture is sometimes a balancing act. New courses are in development for agriscience teachers to implement in the 2020-2021 school year focusing on areas such as animal science, veterinary science, poultry science, forestry and environmental management, aquaculture, food science and plant biotechnology to name a few. With our governor’s goals for workforce development related to post-secondary attainment for in-demand career pathways leading to valuable, portable post-secondary degrees, certificates and credentials; and adding 500,000 highly skilled workers to our workforce by 2025,
