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Hear from Keegan Kautzky regarding the need for
increased diversity in agriculture
celebrate it. It’s not finding the next Norman Borlaug. It’s
helping show each person that they have the capacity
to be Norman Borlaug and to change the world. That’s
maybe the bigger, deeper question. How do we create
an environment that supports and creates millions of
Norman Borlaug’s?
There is so much talent in this world. And there is
a deep passion especially among young people today to
make a difference, to be connected, to understand the
world that they live in, and to be a part of it. And when we
talk about young people, we tend to do so in fairly
derogatory ways rather than in aspirational and
value-driven ways. How do we change the conversation?
How do we educate and market to people to help them
understand how these issues relate?
When we think about diversity, and whether or not we
still have truly a population that represents and reflects
all of us, there are still a lot of barriers, some seen, some
unseen. We’ve started to make a lot of progress on gender
in the agricultural industry. Where we’re starting to see
that is in the early stages of access to opportunities and
in our educational system. We’re seeing much higher
rates of young women participating in secondary and
collegiate programs. We’re seeing that 60-70% of FFA
programming is young women. We’re seeing emerging
leadership that is young women. But there’s still a big
disconnect between those mid-career professionals and
senior leadership when we look at agribusiness in America.
There are very few women. There are very few racial or
ethnic minorities.
We are reaching such a small segment of our potential
because we’re not yet opening the doors. We’re not yet
speaking in a way that feels inclusive and comfortable.
When students come into these programs and come into
companies to interview for a job, do they see people that look
like them? Do they see and do they know people who have
worked there, that have been a part of this organization?
If they don’t, they will find a great organization somewhere
else. They will join another club. It’s not just that we removed
barriers, but we have to actively work to create an
environment that is conducive and comfortable for a person
to be a part of. We all want to belong. We have a very long
ways to go. It’s still very sad how little racial and ethnic
diversity in agriculture. But when we think about
geographical differences, are students from urban areas
being brought into this field? They have a perspective and
experience that’s very relevant. Are we engaging veterans?
They have a lot to contribute. Is it an environment that is
comfortable for a person who is lesbian or gay or trans to
help solve these problems and make agriculture better and
the world better? Because that’s what we should all be
striving for: to utilize every person’s passions and talents
and energy to move us all forward to solve these problems,
to make a difference.
When we think about diversity, we ask, why aren’t there
more students that are Latino or African American in
agriculture, or Asian Americans? One of the most important
agriculturalists who has ever lived is still alive today.
Her name is Evangelina Villegas. And she helped develop
quality protein maize, which increased the digestible
protein in corn. That literally improved the nutrition of
tens of millions of kids around the world, because they got
the essential amino acids they needed for their minds to
develop and for their muscles to grow.
So here you have a Latina woman in the 1970s who
develops this improved corn variety, and hundreds of
millions of households everywhere are feeding their kids
this improved corn variety so they grow taller and their
brains fully develop. They live a better life. Almost no one
has ever heard of her. Probably the most important Latina
who has ever lived. The most important Latina in
agriculture. Part of it is that we don’t tell those stories. We
don’t celebrate those people and value what’s happening.
Right now, at Iowa State University, there are
thousands of incredible scientists and researchers and
agriculturalists solving these problems. That’s happening
in every state. We have the largest research complex that
has ever existed. Researching and studying and creating
new technologies to improve the world and solve these
problems. And it’s happening in our own backyard. But
we don’t recognize it, we don’t talk about it, we don’t
Keegan Kautzky, Director of National Education Programs and Partnerships of the World Food Prize Foundation, reflects on the need for diversity in agriculture
CELEBRATING
DIVERSITY
