This week is Ag Week and while it may not seem important to some people on this campus, it should. Ag Week celebrates the accomplishments the agriculture community at Iowa State has made. Maybe other people would understand and respect the agriculture community if they just knew a little more about it.

To start, Iowa State was started when it was established as the State Agricultural College and Model Farm. All of this campus was once a great prairie and some of the buildings here were all built because of agriculture – like Catt Hall, originally Agricultural Hall in 1892. There are many other things that started at Iowa State and deal with agriculture that still exist today. Just look it up on the ISU homepage.

How many of you were in 4-H? I was, and most of the people in charge of 4-H in your county are extension agents who work for Iowa State. Extension is probably one of the most well-known services at Iowa State and has helped farmers throughout the years by making farms more productive and teaching farmers new and better ways to farm, as well as making better products for them.

Our agronomy department works hard all year long to work on soybeans, corn and forages to make better crops. Every time you eat a salad, tofu or nachos you are reaping the harvest of the farmer and the work that Iowa State’s agronomists have done to make things easier for you even if you do not realize it or care about it.

The animal science department is another part of Iowa State that is under-appreciated. Did you know that through animal science, the meat industry has changed, as has animal production?

Iowa State is one of the few universities across the nation that has its own meat science area which includes killing, processing and inspection. Students can learn about these things and go on to grade the meat you eat. Students also learn about production and how to make things work so that they can stay in business so that you can go to a fast food joint and eat a cheeseburger or spend some extra money for a big juicy steak.

There are many different departments in the College of Agriculture most people do not think of being agriculture-related. zoology, genetics, microbiology, forestry, botany, biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, food science and human nutrition and animal ecology are all part of the College of Agriculture.

ISU agriculture students have gone on to achieve greatness. George Washington Carver was a famous student and his main work was with ag. Henry Wallace, probably the best known figure in agriculture, also went to Iowa State.

And we all know the Jack Trice story, but not many know he was an animal husbandry major. Yep, that’s in the ag college. Today’s ag students work hard to keep the traditions that in the past have led to greatness. We fight to get recognition in a place that does not care about agriculture. The greeks may complain about being stereotyped, but they still get tons of attention and recognition during Greek Week. All the ag students want is people to recognize them like everyone else does.

People don’t realize how large the College of Agriculture is at Iowa State. We have the largest club on campus, a large number of women in our college as well as a large number of minorities. If it wasn’t for the ag college there would be no “a” in Veishea. In fact if it wasn’t for all aspects of agriculture there wouldn’t even be a “v,” since veterinary medicine is also part of the big world of agriculture and Iowa State.

So hopefully I informed you about agriculture at Iowa State and how it relates to you. Just look around and you can see agriculture, whether it is the flowers in front of the buildings or the murals in the library Grant Wood painted. The students in the College of Agriculture already know how important agriculture is to the world; now it’s time for the rest of the students at Iowa State to open their eyes.

Wesley Griffin is a senior in agriculture studies from Grand River.