Wyatt Wilkerson

My name is Wyatt Wilkerson, and I am fortunate to be able to credit the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom as a major contributor to both my education, and for making me generally well-rounded 25-year-old.

I grew up in Valley Center, California, located in northeast San Diego County. It's a sprawling suburban community with only one small town center and is very agriculturally-based, even today. A drive down any of the main roads in the area means passing by the many orchards and farms within the town. The community is close knit and very family oriented even though the population is fairly large. Driving to school every morning, we would pass two egg farms, a dairy, and countless avocado and citrus orchards. There was always a sense of pride for this agriculture and country atmosphere, which was evident from town events and celebrations.

Agriculture surrounded me on a daily basis, and there were constant reminders that our community relied on our local farms, but my own personal connection to agriculture did not occur to me until I started working on the farm at my elementary school farm. It was during the 1996-97 school year, I was in fifth grade in Cathey Anderson's class at the Valley Center Upper Elementary School. The school had a fairly large farm adjacent to the campus where Mrs. Anderson would take our class a few times a week for several projects geared around learning about and working on the farm.

We would feed all the animals and clean their pens, tend to the raised gardens, even turn the compost pile. In hindsight it was quite an operation for fifth graders, but I remember many days on the farm fondly. Our biggest responsibility involved tending the chickens and harvesting their eggs. We fed the chickens and cleaned the coops. We collected, cleaned, sorted, and packaged their eggs into cartons that we sold after school for a small profit. I look back on these experiences with a sense of pride and I have a great appreciation for farmers. I buy Valley Center eggs whenever I have the chance.

In 2008, I was able to draw upon the knowledge and lessons I learned from my experience on the school farm as they related to the contentious Proposition 2 ballot measure. Initially, the proposition seemed to be a straightforward call to protect farm animals. However, the measure made it seem that the majority of egg-laying hens are mistreated, kept in cages that restrict all movement, or live in conditions that could be deemed inhumane. The bill ignored the fact that the large majority of animals are kept in conditions that already meet the bill's standard—that they can lie down, stand, and flap their wings within the cage. Having had a hand in raising chickens, I was skeptical of the proponents' arguments. I found it counter-intuitive that farmers would willfully risk the health of their animals, especially when their livelihood depends on keeping the animals happy and healthy.

In fact, I think my fifth grade class could prove to anyone that healthy and happy chickens produce more eggs. I think you would be hard-pressed to find any professional egg farmer that treated their animals any differently, and I couldn't in good conscience put so many farmers at risk by requiring such an unnecessary and wasteful measure.

Although Proposition 2 was passed by the voters, due largely to a multi-million dollar media campaign, it really caused me to see that I need to take a good, hard look at issues based on my own personal experiences, rather that what is being pushed upon me by questionable causes with questionable agendas.

My own experience with agriculture education in my fifth grade class helped me come to this realization, and its something I will always stay true to.

In 2008 I graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a bachelor's of science in cognitive science, with a specialization in human-computer interaction. I work for a mobile phone company, creating easy to understand interfaces and phone features for emerging markets, such as Africa and Indonesia. I am planning on going back to school for my master's degree soon, continuing on a path of human factors and cognitive study.

Although my current profession does not tie directly to agriculture, I continue to maintain awareness and care for agriculture in my day-to-day life. I grow a small patio garden each season. I buy groceries that come straight from local growers and farmers, and I try to stay mindful of those issues that were important in my home community.

Many thanks to my teacher, Cathey Anderson, and all of the teachers out there like her, who see the importance in connecting their students to the true life experiences that can only be provided in a setting such as a school farm or garden. You really are reaching and changing students for the better every day.

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