How Utah ag education is bridging the digital divide – Deseret News

Three-dimensional models of beef carcasses hang from the classroom ceiling at North Summit High School. To better understand the journey from the pasture to the grocery store, students in Katie Silcox’s agricultural education class created the models to visualize a carcass before it is processed into retail cuts.

The project is part of a meat science unit with a “farm-to-fork” philosophy. For many students, it is the final step in learning how animals are raised before the product reaches the consumer.

In a world where remote work and delivery services make it possible to never leave the couch, agricultural education is pulling students back outside.

Katie Silcox, North Summit High School animal science teacher, explains a beef primal cuts and retail ID activity to her animal science class as part of the agriculture program in the school’s chapter of the National FFA Organization at North Summit High School in Coalville on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

In Utah, that means moving beyond the cows and plows stereotype that people think of when they hear the word “agriculture.”

While agricultural education may have once focused solely on skills like milking cows and driving tractors, modern programs have expanded to teach everything from meat science and animal first aid to the complex ecosystems supporting American farms.

For Silcox, the benefit lies in connecting the digital world to the dirt, bringing her “classroom to life.”

While some things, like the basics of genetics never change, Silcox noted the application does. “How we study them and how we use the information from research and how we apply the technology is always changing,” she said.

North Summit High School students care for chickens outside for their animal science class while students in the greenhouse class work on trimming flowers as part of the agriculture program in the school’s chapter of the National FFA Organization at North Summit High School in Coalville on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Tools like YouTube allow teachers like Silcox to find real-world visuals quickly, helping students understand topics on a deeper level without leaving the school building.

Just over an hour away at Spanish Fork High School, Kaylee Liddiard shares a similar focus, “Giving them an ability to learn a technical skill, but at the same time, to learn valuable people skills you can’t learn from a computer screen.”

Liddiard, emphasized those benefits come from both the classroom and the National FFA Organization. FFA is an “intracurricular student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership,” according to the organization. Leadership skills needed to help bridge the gap between the digital world and reality.

As of August 2025, the organization listed over 1 million members nationwide, a 1.5% increase from the previous year.

Agricultural literacy begins early in Utah classrooms

North Summit High School student Weston Preator, 15, waters flowers during a greenhouse class as part of the agriculture program in the school’s chapter of the National FFA Organization at North Summit High School in Coalville on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Agricultural literacy — defined by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture as “the understanding and knowledge of agriculture and its impact on society” — starts long before high school.

Becki Lawver, head of the Applied Sciences, Technology and Education Department at Utah State University, estimates 70,000 kids participate in 4-H, where “kids and teens complete hands-on projects in areas like health, science, agriculture and civic engagement,” the program says.

Lawver also estimates that 20,000 high schoolers are enrolled in agriculture classes statewide.

Through USDA-funded kits, even fourth graders are getting their hands dirty. Lawver told the Deseret News that students might study the history of the cotton gin while de-seeding actual cotton balls at their desks. Similarly, the USU Extension’s “Crops in a Box” program teaches elementary students exactly where their local food comes from.

“We have a huge education pipeline across Utah,” Lawver said.

A regional powerhouse

North Summit High School students Morgan Lefler, 15, Aspen Silcox, 15, and Graydon Pace, 15, from left, care for chicks during their animal science class as part of the agriculture program in the school’s chapter of the National FFA Organization at North Summit High School in Coalville on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Utah’s role in the West’s agricultural production economy is often underestimated.

“We’re a major food production hub,” Lawver said of northern Utah and southern Idaho. She noted that because of the state’s robust trucking and logistics network, local livestock and crops are shipped nationwide.

Natural resources, from the Great Salt Lake to mountain watersheds, support a quality of life that depends on managed landscape. Lawver argues that the next generation must be passionate about agriculture and prepared to solve real-world challenges involving land, water and air stewardship.

“The future is bright, there are jobs, there are challenges, but we need this next generation to really help us get there,” she said.

“The future is bright, there are jobs, there are challenges, but we need this next generation to really help us get there.”

— Becki Lawver, Utah State University agricultural education professor

The young kids are more capable than people think and there are students ready to meet those challenges head on.

Education beyond the farm

A second-place Utah FFA Association plaque is shown as North Summit High School students work on a beef primal cuts and retail ID activity in their animal science class as part of the agriculture program in the school’s chapter of the National FFA Organization at North Summit High School in Coalville on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

At North Summit, Silcox’s classroom is governed by discipline and the “official dress” of the FFA: the iconic blue corduroy jacket, a white collared shirt and an official FFA tie or scarf, paired with a black skirt or dress pants, black socks or nylons and black shoes.

When Silcox and her students attend conventions, the expectation isn’t just to “show up to show up” but to “be a competitor, learn skills and bring those back home.”

Learning in an Ag class doesn’t stop on the technical side, students develop “durable skills,” or 21st-century skills — skills like communication, making decisions, being accommodating, adaptable and more. Skills that Silcox says translate into any career.

For example, if the heating system in the greenhouse fails, Silcox’s students must pivot. They might need to overwater plants or readjust schedules to save them. “I think that’s one of the biggest things that is hugely beneficial. I love that there’s a focus on those durable skills that we can give to all students,” she said.

Katie Silcox, animal science teacher, speaks to North Summit High School student Chloee Portillo, 17, in the greenhouse as part of the agriculture program in the school’s chapter of the National FFA Organization at North Summit High School in Coalville on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

Not all of her students are going to be greenhouse managers, but they can all use the learned decision-making skills to be adaptable.

“These kids are super technology-based. They are going to see things differently. Their uphill battle will be fighting tradition … but if we’re not changing over time, then we’re not doing our students any justice.”

— Katie Silcox, North Summit High FFA adviser and agriculture education teacher

“I have students going into agriculture careers but I also have students going into other careers and doing agriculture on the side,” Silcox said. “I have students that are lawyers that don’t do anything specifically related to agriculture but they’re still using their skills from an Ag class.”

After 28 years of teaching, Silcox says the goal isn’t just to harvest new farmers, but to teach students valuable life skills they can take with them in any career.

For most of these students, farming will rarely be a primary income source, but students in an agriculture classroom learn to become informed consumers. In Liddiard’s meat science class, students learn to bone out a chicken thigh to evaluate if it’s cheaper to do it themselves or buy the boneless option at the store.

Farming’s future? Tech driven

While the industry faces uncertainty, both Lawver and Silcox say the future is bright, driven by a rising tech-savvy generation.

“These kids are super technology-based,” Silcox said. “They are going to see things differently. Their uphill battle will be fighting tradition … but if we’re not changing over time, then we’re not doing our students any justice.”

She added that modern technology offers a better work-life balance for the agriculture industry, allowing farmers to cut down on the long grueling hours. Fifty years ago, a farmer might have left a child’s soccer game early to move irrigation pipes. Today, that same task can be managed remotely from a tablet.

Whether a student becomes a farmer, a florist or a lawyer, teachers want them to leave the program as better people and better-informed citizens.

“It isn’t just about being a good farmer,” Liddiard said. “It’s about being a good person.”