Nearly 400 people from across the region packed into the standing room only Agriculture Education Pavilion at Pioneer Farm on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville campus to ask questions of Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, and Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, during a town hall meeting.
“Agriculture is extremely important; it’s a $50 billion industry in Wisconsin. When you add in Iowa and Illinois, it is remarkably important to the future of this country, and to the world,” said UW-Platteville Chancellor Dennis J. Shields. “It was fabulous to have the secretaries here today. They are good folks, they know what they’re talking about, and the most impressive thing is how willing they were to listen to questions and be responsive, and talk about the challenges that are in front of us.”
High school and university students, FFA members and educators asked the secretaries a myriad of questions about the importance of education, agriculture and the partnership between the two as the Federal Government looks to revitalize the economy and bolster the nation’s educational opportunities.
“To see what’s going on here at UW-Platteville, during tough economic times while keeping costs down, there’s a tremendous commitment to quality education,” said Sec. Duncan. “We talked to a number of students that obviously focus on ag education today, but I talked to a number of folks today in the School of Education at UW-Platteville; they’re all thrilled with the education they’re getting, and I think there is some fantastic work going on here. I had a scent of it, but you really learn something by seeing it.”
Sec. Duncan and Sec. Vilsack signed a joint agreement today that compels and requires the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Education to work collaboratively to promote agricultural education and to promote agriculture teaching as a vocation. The agreement encourages the two departments to share best practices and to use resources collaboratively.
“It’s great to be at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. What I enjoyed most was the opportunity to talk with students both before and during the town hall meeting,” said Sec. Vilsack. “I want these young people, particularly the FFA and farm kids to understand and appreciate what a tremendous opportunity we have here in agriculture. It is an underappreciated and undervalued aspect of our economy; I think more people are beginning to realize that agriculture is the key to our security, the key to our job growth in rural America, the key to our energy future, and its frankly the key to our manufacturing future. This is the future and it is happening right here.”
The town hall meeting was streamed live across the nation, allowing high school classes, FFA groups and ag-related organizations to hear from Sec. Duncan and Sec. Vilsack as they answered questions. The hour-long discussion can be viewed online at http://mediasite.uwplatt.edu/UWP/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=861a8128-9c05-4b33-913c-c66036954625.
Pioneer Farm is a 430-acre working farm, providing opportunities for students, faculty and staff to engage in experiential learning and applied research. Among the 42 majors offered at UW-Platteville, six are in agriculture, including a dual degree in agriculture education and technology education.
UW-Platteville, situated in southwest Wisconsin fewer than 30 miles from both the Iowa and Illinois borders, enrolls 7,458 undergraduate students. UW-Platteville is one of 13 publicly supported comprehensive universities in the UW System, and is the fastest-growing in the entire system.