As a Pre-veterinary and Animal Biosciences/ Agriculture and Natural Resources double major with a minor in environmental humanities, I feel as though I have learned plenty about farming and how it works, but I have yet to really hear statistics or specifics relative to Delaware. Ed Kee’s lecture shed some light on Delaware farming and farming in general for me. For example, I didn’t know 99% of farms were family owned or that 40% of Delaware was farms. Not only that but we can reach such a large percent of the population in a decent about of time. It’s amazing to think of all the food we must be able to produce and sell to people to satiate them. I think that is an important factor to think about as the population grows and I wonder what is being done to even further this development. I feel as that Delaware will become a very important player as we attempt to feed more people as we have 40% of the state as agriculture and 24% of it is preserved, as well as being so close to such a large percent of the population.
Tag Archives: Delaware Agriculture
Mr. Ed Kee Guest Lecture
I was recently fortunate enough to hear two guest lectures from Mr. Ed Kee. His first lecture taught us students about Delaware Ag and its importance to the food shed. Mr. Kee spoke about many things including that Delaware is located within 8 hours of 1/3 of the population, which puts Delaware at a high advantage even with its small size. Delaware also has 115,000 of land being preserved so it will stay farmland forever; this will allow many businesses to stay in business for many years to come. The agriculture industry has $6-$7 billion dollars of economic activity in Delaware which makes it a large commodity for Delaware as well as the Eastern United States. Mr. Kees second lecture explained Iowa and California Agriculture. I found this lecture very interesting because it put more into perspective about farming in the United States and helped me compare Delawares agriculture practices to those in other states. Iowa has great soil because of the moisture it can hold and its fertility. California agriculture is all about water and farmers grow crops to gain the most profit relative to what they pay for water. After listening to both lectures from Mr. Kee I feel I’ve gained an abundance of knowledge about not only Delaware agriculture but Iowa and California agriculture and thank him very much for sharing his wealth of knowledge with us students.