Karina Jones is a real-life ranch wife in the Nebraska Sandhills and one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the cattle industry nationwide!
Thank you for tuning back in to Ranch Raised! If you missed yesterday’s episode where I talked about the history of the iconic “blue jacket”, visit the Your Ag Network app or website!
As we continue to celebrate National FFA Week, I think I would be remised if I didn’t take this opportunity to talk to those of you who value FFA in your school system and tell you to stay vigilant and fight for it. I have seen first-hand how home economics classes have been cut from many schools. There is no doubt a shortage of accredited ag teachers in my state and I will assume that we are not alone. It has become easy for some school administrations to look at “fringe” classes and see where there can be cuts and it seems that between the struggle to find ag teachers and make rooms in schedules and budgets, there has become a shift away from vocational learning again. You know they say history does repeat itself.
I am seeing that now as my own kids are in school. I don’t feel that vocational skills are valued in mainstream learning. Remember what I said earlier this week that in the early 1900’s the American education system was out of step with what America was in desperate need of, vocational learning. And here we are again. How many kids are taught in school how follow a recipe, boil water, grow & raise foodor take a pile of random wood pieces and create something function.
With the state of world affairs, these types of skills are looking to be pretty important, but maybe that is the old fashioned hippie, pioneer in me talking. All I’m saying is if you have an FFA and ag program in your school, fight for it, support it and don’t take it for granted!
From everyone here at Your Ag Network and this great American radio station, we salute the blue and gold, past, present and future! Happy National FFA week!
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Karina ranches with her husband, Marty, and 3 daughters near Broken Bow, NE. She grew up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD. The cattle industry and raising kids is her passion.
Watching the cattle industry go the path that it has gone, she could no longer sit quietly at home checking cows, fixing fence, and doing all the everyday tasks wondering when some else was going to make it all better. As she became more active and outspoken on industry issues, she was asked to join the R-CALF USA staff in September 2020 as the Checkoff Petition Campaign manager. That position transcended into her current role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA.
You can hear her almost every Friday on Your Ag Network’s Hot Barn Report that is broadcast on 60 radio stations with coverage in 9 states, where she deep dives into cattle industry issues and highlights R-CALF’s work on industry reforms. Listen to Ranch Raised on a Your Ag Network hometown station or www.youragnetwork.com where she talks about her daily life on the ranch.
Cattle producers are her people. She will meet you at the county fair, at the sale barn, or anywhere the dusty trail leads.
karina@youragnetwork.com or visit facebook.com/ranchraisedwithkarinajones
