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comments on ag journalism
It’s coming to an end, almost faster than
I can say. And as I sit here trying to meet
the deadline for this editorial, I find my
self looking back and reflecting on the
things that have happened to me since I
came to Aggieland all those years ago,
and especially since I became an agricul
tural journalism major.
No, I’m not dying, though I guess in a
way some people might consider gradua
tion the death of a certain part of one’s
life. In less than three weeks I will have
reached the end of the yellow brick road
that I have been traveling since I gradu
ated from high school in 1977, and the
thought thrills yet terrifies me.
I don’t regret going to Texas Christ
ian University for three semesters before
transferring to A&M, and I don’t regret
changing majors five times in my college
career. Though it took me a while to find
agricultural journalism, it was well worth
the wait.
Agricultural journalism is an excellent
major but I get very frustrated with peo
ple who treat us like second-class citizens.
Ag journalism is in the College of Agri
culture, but not really. And we’re part of
the Department of Communications, but
not really. We get the best of both worlds,
but not really.
Though we sometimes get the best of
both worlds, we are really misfits. Agri
culture people think we’re weird because
we aren’t from farm backgrounds and
don’t hang out at Kleberg. Journalism
The Agriculturist
Editor
Valerie Clark
Assit. editors
David Hatch
Cheryl Burke
Photo editors
Michael Raulerson
Rose Delano
Ad managers
Kitty Fraley
Cathy Anderson
The Agriculturist is published each semester by the Agricultural
Communicators of Tomorrow at Texas A&M University.
people think we’re weird because we
don t live at the Battalion and hang
around Reed McDonald more. And how
could we actually find anything exciting
or fulfilling in writing about agriculture?
But the worse thing is that both
groups consider us only lukewarm wri
ters. I am not an ag major because I
couldn’t handle straight journalism, and
I am not an journalism major because I
couldn’t handle straight agriculture. I
am an ag journalism major because I
LOVE TO WRITE ABOUT AGRI
CULTURE, PERIOD.
Every semester since I have been asso
ciated with ACT, members have ago
nized over the decision concerning pro
duction of the Agriculturist. And every
semester I voted to continue the tradi
tion. Well, the time has come to put the
old dog to sleep. We try so hard to put
this thing together: we ask, demand,
threaten, plead, beg and cajole for stor
ies and production help. But it always
ends up being just a few people who do
all the work, though others promised us
faithfully at the beginning of the semes
ter that we could count on them.
t- ££ -i. — I I.
r» An
But w here do agjournalism majors go
from here? I wish I knew...All com
plaints and gripes aside, being in the Col
lege of Agriculture is great, as is being
part of the communications department.
But apathy and ignorance are killing my
major, and I can’t think of one single way
to get people excited about ag communi
cations. It amazes me that others don’t
want to be ag communicators because it’s
such a diverse, exciting field. And the
agricultural industry desparately needs
people trained in ag communications.
Texas A&M has the opportunity to be
the best ag communications school in the
nation—the talent is here, as are the facili
ties, information and money. But Aggie
land doesn’t have the most important
ingredient—interested students.
As I look back, I don’t regret the hun
dreds of hours that I have invested in this
tabloid, it was a very valuable learning
experience and one I wouldn't trade for
anything. But I also remember all the
sleepness nights, missed dates, hours
spent writing headlines when nobody
showed up, panic felt when I realized
how much 1 had to accomplish and the
time I had to do it in. And though I’ve
never been a quitter before, I am sug
gesting that this be the last copy of the
Agriculturist. Even if I weren’t graduat
ing, as president of ACT it would be my
recommendation. This tabloid has
served a purpose in the past, but I hon
estly think that it is more of an albatross
now than anything. Though it would be
sorely missed by some, I have a feeling
that most people wouldn’t even notice
that it was gone.
And like the Agriculturist, my time
has come to move on. But before I go, I
would like to thank Mr. Gougler, ACT
advisor, companion and friend, for his
endless devotion to ACT and agjournal
ism. Many heart-felt thanks also go to
everyone who has helped me with pro
duction of this tabloid the past two years,
I don’t need to name you individually
because vou know who you are.
—kittv fralev—
Editor’s note
I would like to thank everyone in
volved in the production of the Agricul
turist. Those who wrote stories, de
veloped and printed pictures and those
who edited worked hard. I would espe
cially like to thank Mr. Doyle Gougler,
our loyal and adored advisor. He always
has time to help us out and he does a
wonderful job of keeping us on the
straight and narrow.
We had a good production staff this
semester. We also had some good writers
and some extra help with the photo
graphs. But we have experienced the
same fizzling out of interest that we ex
perience every semester.
The Agricultural Communicators of
Tomorrow face printing the Agricultur
ist with renewed interest every semester.
The problem is since production is all on
a volunteer basis, about half way through
the production process a number of peo
ple find that they have class assignments
and other outside activities. When this
happens the editorial staff ends up being
stuck doing all the work.
We as students find it hard to delegate
our time. It’s hard to keep up with classes
and still find time to participate in club
activities and also do some nonschool
# things ; .
Although the Agriculturist is a lot of
hard work and many hours are taken
away from study time, I still believe it is
the best way for the agricultural journal
ism majors here at Texas A&M to learn
production techniques and experience
editorial responsibilities.
We are not required to take any adv
anced editorial or production type clas
ses and it seems like most agjournalism
students graduate without even knowing
how a newpaper or magazine is pro
duced.
I have worked on the Agriculturist for
four years now and I’ve seen the same
sad situation develop every semester.
Maybe it is about time to stop expect
ing students to get this experience on
their own (on a voluntary basis) and start
requiring our agjournalism majors to do
production work on a publication. The
publication, in my opinion, should not be
the Agriculturist, but a more profession
al type magazine or tabloid or a newslet
ter produced and mailed out to ag jour
nalists across the country.
In order for the students to get the
experience they need, the students must
be required to work on a publication be
fore graduation.
■A-
UOTJUDAUOD
!
Ethical Agriculture
By ANN RAMSBOTTOM
Some of the toughest decisions to
make involve conflicts between ethical
beliefs and professional responsibility,
said an agricultural ethics professor at
Texas A&M University.
Dr. Paul Thompson, assistant profes
sor of philosopv and humanities, is
teaching a new course this semester. The
course deals with agricultural issues as
they relate to cultural practices and the
environment.
The course is Agricultural Ethics and
is cross-listed as a 489 agricultural econo
mics and philosophy elective.
“I don’t really like the name Ag
Ethics,” Thompson said. “A better name
would be Philisophical Problems In
volved in Agriculture.”
The purpose of the course is to expose
students to agricultural issues so that
they’re familiar with them when they get
out of college.
“We like to introduce students to a
little bit of sophistication and language
on the issues so that they can handle
problems intelligently and form edu
cated opinions,” Thompson said.
“The difficult part about teaching this
course,” Thompson said, “is that there
are no clear cut answers.”
Thompson gave several examples of
issues that the class has dealt with. One
example is pesticides. Pesticides are a big
concern in modern agriculture, Thomp
son said.
By GRETCHEN RATLIFF
There is a room in the Kleberg Center
that houses a valuable timesaver for
many students and faculty members
working on the west side of the Texas
A&M University campus.
The room is 032 and it’s the Kleberg
Computer Center. The center has been
in existence for four years and is avail
able to anyone needing to do computer
work. The majority of its users, however,
are from departments and classes on the
west campus.
The center consists of 16 Wilbur ter
minals, microcomputers, printers and
card readers. It is tied into the Universi
ty’s main computer system and operat
ing hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Jeff Royce uses the KCC computer
Photo by Kitty Fraley
“Pesticides get into the food chain and
become a health problem,” Thompson
said. “We’re forced to weigh the risks
against the benefits of increased produc
tivity.”
Marketing practices in agribusiness
present problems also, he said. “Agricul
tural products are introduced to the con
sumer by the manufacturers,” Thomp
son said. “The manufacturer provides
promotional information that may not
be in the best interest of the consumer.
The question is, do we trust the manu
facturer.”
Government health and nutrition reg
ulations force people to make influential
decisions all the time. Heavy subsidies
are placed on some products, Thompson
said. Tobacco and beef are two products
which have been continually criticized by
those in the medical profession.
“On one hand,” Thompson said, “we
have to keep the economy going. We
can’t just put the producers of these pro
ducts out of business.” On the other
hand, he added, the consumer has to
decide whether or not to support the
industries which might be harmful to
him.
Finally, a key issue is world hunger.
“There are thousands of people in the
world that don’t get enough to eat,”
Thompson said. “As a wealthy nation, we
must decide what our responsibilities are
— do we encourage agricultural de
velopment in poor countries or do we
just give them the food.”
jonn Lahore, a graduate student from
Kentucky working on his doctorate in
agricultural economics, assists in the
center.
“We get quite a broad range of users,”
he said. He added that most of the users
are graduate students and faculty mem
bers conducting research.
Dr. Ron Edwards, associate professor
of animal science, said the center is in an
ideal location and that it helps students
and faculty complete their computer
programs more quickly and efficiently.
“Otherwise, every time we wanted to
do something, we’d have to walk across
campus to the main terminal,” Edwards
said.
Studying
By KITTY FRALEY
Their offices are in the old hospital.
They are faculty members of an official
department in the College of Agricul
ture, although the department has no
academic program and their research is
almost entirely funded by the Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station.
“The emphasis in rural sociology is on
the analysis of the problems and poten
tials of rural people and rural communi
ties,” says Dr. Steve Murdock, depart
ment head in rural sociology.
“Rural sociology is concerned primar
ily with rural areas and agriculture, and
its research tends to be applied and
oriented to the direct needs of decision
makers,” he explained.
Rural sociology was first offered at the
Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas in 1918 through the department
of economics, which was in the School of
Agriculture.
In the fall of 1920, the department of
rural social science was formed, and in
1921 the name was changed to the de
partment of rural sociology. In 1946 the
departments of agricultural economics
rural life
and rural sociology were combined into
the department of agricultural econo
mics and sociology (but courses were still
listed as Rural Sociology 205, 315, etc.).
In 1960 the term “rural” was dropped
from all sociology courses. In 1963 the
Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas became Texas A&M University,
and the School of Agriculture became
the College qf Agriculture. The sociolo
gy department was transferred to the
College of Liberal Arts in 1960 but rural
sociology stayed in the College of Agri
culture.
Research in rural sociology is con
cerned with 10 major areas: population
analysis, natural resource usage and im
pacts, community development, rural
services and institutions, sociology of
agriculture, sociology of adoption and
diffusion, social and demographic di
mensions of the marketing of agricultu
ral products, agricultural manpower and
program/extension evaluation.
“Our emphasis here is on research,
because what findings we come up with
are always applied,” Murdock said. “Our
theory and training is the same as
sociologists, only our emphasis is agricul
ture.”
A&M UNDERGRADUATE ENTOMOLOGY CLUB
Pres. Michael Lidell 693-0018
V. P. Kelli Brown
Sec. Bob Breene
Treas. Bob Sprague
Ag Council Rep.,
Tody Gladin
KCC aids in teaching, research