Iowa’s agriculture industry was the subject of the second Summit on the Future of Agriculture Education in Iowa. Agriculture leaders emphasized that the state’s agriculture is more than corn and soybeans during the meeting Friday.”It’s odd that there’re Iowans that don’t know too much about the opportunities in agriculture,” said Robert Martin, professor and chairman of agricultural education and studies. Martin said he knows many people in Iowa are unaware that agriculture in the state is not only the beans and corn everyone sees.”That’s not the full story of agriculture; there’s horticulture, supplies and natural resources,” he said.The day-long summit began with opening comments from Eric Hoiberg, associate dean of agriculture for state and academic programs. More than 25 groups were available for three roundtable discussions and mini-workshops, followed by a luncheon session with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge and three more roundtables and mini-workshops.Hoiberg said he was excited about the diverse group of attendees at the day’s events and the direction the summit led public awareness of agriculture. He said the agriculture system has been closed for a long time because agriculture education spoke to only farm children, and the summit is a step in the right direction. “The beauty of this conference is people are here to listen and learn,” he said. “This kind of effort in agriculture education is not just for agriculture people but for the broad range of society.”During the conference, Hoiberg challenged the more than 200 educators, organization leaders, commodity groups, students and agricultural leaders from the state to use the vast amount of opportunities they have before them. “It is time we have a wider initiative, wider breath and a much larger agenda,” he said. Martin also said people around the state need to help Iowans learn more about agriculture by reaching a wider range of the public, which was one of the goals of the conference. The summit was designed to bring together “the doers” of organizations and groups in Iowa that are dedicated to helping Iowans understand more about the agriculture, food, fiber and natural resource industry, Martin said, so that they are aware of the different resources available to them. The first meeting included leaders from agriculture industries last March.”This forum is to bring people collectively together to strengthen everyone’s efforts,” said Martin, chairman of the Governor’s Council on Agriculture Education. “There are really a lot of people around the state trying to help Iowans learn more about agriculture.”The event was sponsored by the Governor’s Council on Agriculture Education, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Department of Agriculture Education and Studies and the ISU College of Agriculture.