© 2017 Michael
Swickard, Ph.D. American
agriculture, which a hundred years ago was where many people worked is now just
a very small sliver of the overall workforce. Consequently, many people occasionally
notice the smell of barnyard animals and find the smell objectionable.
Likewise,
many agricultural colleges are shunted off to far corners of universities since
frankly those Ag Colleges have that fine barnyard smell which offends people
who are not from an agricultural background. Yet, everyone likes to eat.
Everyone needs agriculture.
In the
year 1900, about a third of all Americans were living on farms and ranches. Those
people knew that fine barnyard smell and were not put off by it. In fact, if
you are like me who has spent plenty of time on ranches, cow flop smells just
fine.
The
petroleum industry says their smell is the smell of money. Well, the smell on farms
and ranches is organic and is in my humble opinion much better.
You might
ask: what does this have to do with the price of steer manure? You see New
Mexico’s Land-Grant University, New Mexico State University, is fixing to
select a new president.
The very
real danger is that the NMSU Regents might select someone who doesn’t know and
like that fine barnyard smell. Don’t laugh, it has happened several times and
New Mexico State University suffered.
The
selection of University President establishes the identity of the University. Every
institution of higher learning has an identity and for Land-Grant institutions,
that identity is unique for their state.
For more
than a hundred years NMSU was and is the Land-Grant institution in New Mexico. There
are five pillars of a Land-Grant institution: Agriculture, Engineering,
Military Science, Education and Service to New Mexico. No other institution of
higher learning in New Mexico has this mission.
The
problem is that some sophisticates in the head shed have been appalled and
dismayed by the fine barnyard smells that’s just upwind of them. One NMSU
President was overcome with disgust by the smell and complained bitterly. Wrong
president and that person did leave.
The
current NMSU President grew up on that fine barnyard smell and often has had
bits of organic material on his boots. It never has bothered him. This was true
for most of the other NMSU Presidents through the years.
I have a
test to put potential NMSU Presidents through before we should take them
seriously as a replacement for outgoing NMSU President Garrey Carruthers. They
must be able to really talk agriculture before they talk anything else.
If they
can’t tell a steer from heifer I don’t want them anywhere around NMSU. Yes, the
hoity-toity sophisticated crowd would never participate in a cow-chip throwing
contest. So what?
A real
agriculture person, male or female would. It is the identity of NMSU. I pray
that the NMSU Regents and the smarty-pants consultants understand the
difference between NMSU and all of the other institutions of higher learning.
The next
NMSU President had better like that fine barnyard smell.
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