Local Farmer and Agricultural Director discuss industry impact
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – From what you eat to what you wear, someone somewhere put in the work for you to enjoy it.
On Tuesday, March 18, was National Agriculture Day.
According to the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, agriculture is the state’s number one industry.
For more than 40 years, Russell Dodds has worked in agriculture.
“To me, it’s a sacred calling that we provide food for the nation, for the world. Just blessed to be part of it,” said Dodds.
Currently, he is a contract poultry grower for Peco Foods.
“We get them as chicks. We keep them for about 60 days. We make sure that they get proper ventilation. We keep the temperature in the houses right,” said Dodds.
He works daily at the farm with the help of his family.
He said he is grateful to work for Peco and to have support from the farm community.
“It’s a very blessed life. It’s a good life,” said Dodds.
Alex Thomasson is the director of the Agricultural Autonomy Institute at Mississippi State University.
He said new technology is constantly advancing the industry.
“We’ve got much more data now that really requires artificial intelligence to be able to analyze that type of data. And I think this propelling us to a new agriculture of the future that’s focused on autonomous systems,” said Thomasson.
He said the lack of available labor is part of the reason why they’re using more autonomous machinery like drones.
“They tend to not get tired. They tend to be able to work at night. They don’t get sleepy. And so, autonomous systems can do those things that people usually don’t want to do,” said Thomasson.
He said the average age for the farmer gets older every year.
However, he expects future jobs in agriculture to be higher-paying and require more education to manage new technology and machines.
11.4 percent of Mississippi’s workforce is employed in agriculture.
