Agricultural News
Jerry Fitch Honored for 25 Years of Service to Oklahoma Youth
Mon, 07 Oct 2013 13:04:44 CDT
Dozens and dozens of people work to make successful junior livestock shows on the county, district, state and even national levels. When it comes to Oklahoma, there are a few individuals who rise to the top, especially those that work both at the Tulsa State Fair in the fall and at the Oklahoma Youth Expo in the spring.
One of those individuals is Jerry Fitch of Oklahoma State University. He was honored recently at the Tulsa State Fair. He has been working the fair now for 25 years. He says the years have passed quickly and it's his pleasure to do something of such importance for the youth of Oklahoma. (He was interview by Radio Oklahoma Network's Ron Hays. You can hear their full conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of this story.)
"These young people are the future of agriculture. I grew up in the 4-H and FFA programs. Most of my colleagues that I work with and most of the individuals out there in farming and ranching grew up in the show program somewhere and it's where we got our start. And, basically, we are building the future leaders of agriculture with every one of these kids who comes through here."
He says there is also a large number of kids who come through the show programs who would not have contact with agriculture any other way.
"There's a lot of kids who get their start in agriculture through this show program and they get a passion for it. And they may not end up in production agriculture, but they understand all of the facets. And they understand, basically, that all of our kids and us as agriculturalists, before we eat our breakfast in the morning we go feed our animals and take care of our animal. And before we have dinner at night, we take care of our animals. That's what it's all about-learning that kind of responsibility and taking the time and effort to keep the animals healthy and gain responsibility."
Finch says that although the numbers of sheep nationwide are down, in Oklahoma the show program is still going strong.
"It's all about these kids becoming leaders and gaining responsibility and we do it through the animals. The animals are just a way to train these kids to be good citizens and good agriculturalists."
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