BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It's National Future Farmers of America Week at Garces Memorial High School in Bakersfield, and students in the school's agriculture program are celebrating by spreading the word about the importance of the farming industry.
Garces sophomore Luke Zunino lays out how vital farming is to American life.
"The agriculture industry is important because it feeds everyone, no matter what people think. It feeds anything from our dairy animals, think about… We farm canola and alfalfa and corn, that all gets processed down and that feeds the dairy animals, and the dairy animals provide us with milk, cheese, ice cream and dairy products, and with farming, it feeds everything," said Zunino. "It's the backbone of America. It's the backbone of us. Without farming, we wouldn't exist."
Ashleigh Rossi, who teaches the agriculture program at Garces, has classes for freshman through senior students that cover a range of topics, from floral design to agricultural sales and marketing. Rossi first introduced the agriculture program to the school, saying she saw the need for it in the community.
Zunino, who shows competition dairy cows, is hoping to enter into the agriculture business himself, and says the FFA program has given him insight into various aspects of the industry.
"It gives me the opportunities to realize all the different aspects agriculture has to offer me for the future," said Zunino. "Any type of industry, like the dairy industry, farming, even floriculture and industries like that."
