Hello everyone! My name is Logan Hickey and I am a Horticulture major here at Penn State. I grew up outside of Pittsburgh and as a kid I always loved to be outdoors. I took every chance I had to explore the natural world around me whether it was climbing trees in the forest or digging for worms in the backyard.
The older I got the more I loved hiking, climbing, and any outdoor recreation. Sadly, as I grew up more of the natural world around me was being lost to commercial and residential development. Some of my favorite places to spend my time in nature simply do not exist anymore. This made me wonder if as an adult there would be no natural environment for ourselves and future generations to enjoy. This left me feeling powerless in my ability to protect a facet of my life -and everyone else’s – that I feel is necessary for living a happy, healthy, and balanced life.
At this point, I knew I wanted to dedicate my career to not only working towards the preservation of our natural environment, but the sustainable development and distribution of its resources. The more I explored the subject of environmentalism the more I learned about agriculture’s impact on both the health of the environment and ourselves. I realized I was fortunate to be worrying about the encroachment of industry on the natural areas in my suburban neighborhood when thousands of people do not have the time because they have to focus on working to feed their families and themselves.
Throughout my classes in the College of Agriculture I learned that this was not a matter of not enough food being produced to meet demand driving prices up. Rather, there is so much food produced in America that roughly 30-50% of it goes to waste – and a lot of that waste occurs before being sold! So why are so many people going hungry when agriculture corporations produce enough food to feed everyone? Simply put, these corporations care more about their profit margins than the health of their customers and the environment. A lot of wasted food could be donated to those who need it, but it gets thrown away because its cheaper for these companies. I believe that food is not just a product to be bought and sold. Food represents our most vital, life-giving connection to the natural world. No matter where you are on Earth, Food connects you to the land and people around you in a physical and tangible way. When you taste a fruit or a vegetable grown in a certain environment, you are tasting the crescendo of the orchestra of nature. All of the living organisms and their relationships had aligned perfectly for you to enjoy a delicious, life–sustaining gift.
Moreover, you are tasting the hard work and passion that someone put into cultivating that land. Produce isn’t something that happens by coincidence, and magically appears on our tables. Many people have to work for hours a day for months to produce even a single crop, and this labor of love is lost on many Americans.
I wanted to join the Student Farm at Penn State because I did not want to take my food for granted. I want to learn the process of producing food from seed to sale so that I can experience the hardships that come with creating the world’s most vital commodity. I am committed to learning how to practice agriculture using sustainable methods that preserve the soil and aquatic health of our environment. I am determined to use the experience I gain working at the student farm to help make both our local food system and the American food system more equitable and accessible for those who need food most. I cannot wait for this summer, and I hope I get the opportunity to work with you all on the farm!