I held my seventh book in my grubby little hands last week. Writing the story of Dr. John Matsushima has been the honor of my career. It will be thrilling to see some of the 50,000 students participating in the Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom program hearing the story of an agriculture industry legend.

The Agriculture in the Classroom program is as important in my hometown as it is in yours. There is a disconnect between us and our food and a lack of understanding on both sides of the producer and consumer relationship.

I called AITC executive Jennifer Scharpe five years ago and told her I had an idea for a children’s book for her program. That book, “Still Good: The Faces of Family Agriculture,” highlighted the ways various sectors of production agriculture have changed and evolved to become more efficient and productive. Dairy, irrigation, livestock marketing, row crops and produce were all highlighted by giving a glimpse into the real families, farms and ag businesses in the state. It was, as all but my first book are, illustrated by Kremmling native Liz Banman Munsterteiger. She uses absolute magic to create stunning illustrations from the piles of historic and modern photographs I bombard her with. She is the reason the books are more stunning each time.

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It was the 2021 book and reached 2,560 students in 144 classes. Those classes received a copy of the book, curriculum that met state standards, and was hobbled significantly by pandemic-era restrictions.

Scharpe trusted me again the following year when I wanted to to write about Palisade peaches and Maxine Lundgren Clark Allen who spoke about ag labor in the 1970s with authority and kindness. The “Sweetest Treat” story, activities, and a taste of Palisade peach juice reached 9,458 students in 510 classes.

In 2022, I wrote “Woolly Way: Papou and the Legend of Lantern Ridge.” The Theos family was generous in sharing family stories that dated back to when the original Theos came to America with nearly nothing. Each student received tree cookies and wool to use in activities and to hold in their hands and feel, smell and see. It’s powerful to see students inspect a piece of wool and feel the lanolin between their fingers and make a sensory and tactile connection to an industry that was once beyond their reach.

In 2023, “Seed, Sprout, Spice: All About Pueblo Chiles” made its way to classrooms with chile seeds to grow and Pueblo chiles to taste. It was written by Rachel (Linke) Allnut, illustrated by her cousin, Sierra, and championed by her sister McCall (Linke) Knecht. The women grew up on a cattle operation in the Walden area and it is due in great part to their work that book reached 23,309 students in 1,130 classes.

The book I held in my hands is “Cattle, Corn, and Courage: The Story of Dr. John Matsushima.” I’ve written about Matsushima before, but he attended Colorado A&M during World War II and went on to make two of the single greatest contributions to modern cattle feeding still used today. Those, notably, are only two of the pages of game-changing research results he shared with cattle producers over his long career. He’ll turn 104 on Christmas Eve and I’m proud to count him, his daughter and son-in-law among my friends.

I tell you all of this because there is clearly a trend toward recognizing and valuing the contributions of agriculture in the U.S. and in Colorado specifically. Kids hear the stories of ag legends, holding in their hands flaked corn, and tasting a beef stick made by Ram Country Meats at Colorado State University. The students making the beef stick were the ones in those desks not long ago and they’re maintaining forward motion.

As part of the Matsushima project, I’m putting together a higher level telling of his story and information about ag careers for FFA students across the state. Nearly every person I’ve visited with for the project said when they were in high school, they knew they could be an ag teacher, a veterinarian, or go back to the farm or ranch. My goal is to show them there’s more than they can see from where they stand. More importantly, I want them to return to agriculture, whether that’s working for Colorado Parks and Wildlife or making ag loans. The future is bright and they’re hungry to seek and find their place in the industry. There’s room at the ag table. Pull up a chair.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.