The tiny township of Lykens, Penn., was blanketed with a thick layer of snow the day the phone rang at the Wiest home.
Since school was canceled, 14-year-old Katlin Wiest answered the call.
"They told me I was the essay contest winner," says Katlin. "After, I had to get them to explain it again," she laughs. "So I won an essay contest and it was a snow day!"
Several months earlier, Katlin's mother perused the weekly "Lancaster Farming," when an ad for an essay contest caught her eye.
The topic of the Agriculture Council of America-sponsored 2008 Ag Day essay contest was "Agriculture—Bigger Than You Think."
After a bit of encouragement from her mom, and the promise of $1,000 prize money for the winner, Katlin got busy.
"I wrote the whole essay in a weekend and revised it," she says. After taking the essay to school for her English teacher to look over, "I turned it in on the last day," she adds with a laugh.
Last minute or not, 14-year-old Katlin was well-equipped to write about a subject so close to home.
She lives on a beef farm where her father raises beef cattle, grows corn, beans, wheat and hay. And aside from being a budding writer and aspiring large-animal veterinarian, "I have what my parents call 'a small enterprise,'" says Katlin. "For 4-H I raise sheep, goats and dairy steer to show."
"Katlin's essay looked at all of ag," says Gerald Tumbleson, president of the Agriculture Council of America. "Some people wrote about just one topic. Hers is so wide-range. A farmer is just a small fraction of agriculture. She understood ag as a bigger picture."
"When our alarm clocks ring in the morning, they are most likely made of plastic derived from corn or soybeans...As the day ends, we crawl under our wool blankets and go to sleep not thinking that the many things we did today involved agriculture," Katlin wrote in her essay.
"In the future, agriculture will be more important as our country grows. Agriculture is certainly bigger than you think."
Writing about that bigger picture also won Katlin a trip to Washington, D.C., where she read her essay to members of Congress, industry representatives and the media.
"Everyone was so nice and full of congratulations," says Katlin, who insists she was only "a little" nervous.
And that $1,000 prize money? "I plan to save most of it for college and put the rest toward my animals," she says.
Agriculture—Bigger Than You Think
By Katlin Wiest
Agriculture is a word many people use, but do they really know what agriculture means? Do they know what agriculture involves? Do they know how important it is to our country and how it impacts each of our lives?
The work of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock is the definition of agriculture ("Agriculture"). The goods produced and the means by which they are created vary greatly. Agriculture has been an essential part of American life since the foundation of our country. However, many people do not realize that many aspects of human life depend on the numerous types of agriculture.
When the word agriculture is first heard, some people think of corn and cattle; however, this is not all agriculture is limited to in today's society. Farming is the most common form of agriculture. There are many types of farms specializing in various areas. The most common type of farm is the cultivation farm. On these farms much of the United States' main sources of food are produced.
Livestock farming is the second most common farm type. Animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, turkeys, chickens and ducks are raised on livestock farms. Horticulture farms producing flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables, aquaculture farms specializing in aquatic species production and apiculture farms specializing in bees and honey are other types of farms common in the United States.
Agricultural products are used by each of us everyday. When our alarm clocks ring in the morning, they are most likely made of plastic derived from corn or soybeans. We then go to our closets and pick out our cotton clothing to wear. Next is breakfast. We grab the carton of milk and the box of eggs, which come from dairy and poultry farms. Soon we hurry out the door to a vehicle powered by ethanol. At lunch, we open our lunch bags and pull out a bologna sandwich with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Also in our bag is an apple. At home we make dinner, honey glazed ham with beans, and sugar cookies for dessert. Everything we eat is an agricultural product. As the day ends, we crawl under our wool blankets and go to sleep not thinking that the many things we did today involved agriculture.
26,783 United States citizens were employed through agriculture in 2006 (United States Department of Labor). Some of these jobs include farm labor, management, retail, veterinarians, engineers, scientists, researchers, and bio-technicians. These jobs keep agriculture a successful and booming business and have a significant impact on our country's economy.
Agriculture affects many aspects of everyone's life and also offers many career opportunities. In the future, agriculture will be more important as our country grows. Agriculture certainly is bigger than you think.