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Hispanic people have a rich heritage in agriculture. While their
numbers are small, approximating 5%, they represent the largest
minority group enrolled in colleges of veterinary medicine today.
Thus a continuum exists extending from migrant workers in livestock
operations, such as the feedlots and meat processing plants of the
High Plains, to first, second and third generation Hispanic families
who are well established in the United States with growing interest
in the veterinary medical profession.
In 1983 the
proportion of United States farm workers that were Hispanic was
15.9%. In 2002, the number has risen to 47.4 %. Many of these workers do not speak English
as their first language and 80 % of them speak Spanish at home. The
emergence of cultural diversity at all levels of agriculture is not
only because of choice, but because of necessity. The changing face
of agriculture is met with many challenges but the largest challenge
is communication between Spanish and English speaking people.
Language is a major issue at every level of Hispanic participation
in animal-based enterprise. Toward that end, Dr. Dan Thomson and
colleagues have established a bi-lingual program for feedlot workers
funded by the USDA. This program stands to enhance productivity and quality
of life for the stakeholders, but it also is an example of how best
to engage Hispanic workers with skills in handling and managing
livestock in the chain of meat management, feeding and veterinary
medical care.
Communication is not just speaking. Effective communication can
include body language, eye contact and the distance between people
during a conversation. Today and tomorrow’s food animal
veterinarians will have to be able to effectively communicate with
the crews that are taking care of the animals. Never has it been
more important to start a program that works to translate and communicate
the issues related to beef production medicine to Hispanic workers.
Another communication breach is that a lot of Hispanic workers don’t
read. This reinforces the fact that numerous types of communication
must be brought to our animal production sites for training of
Hispanic and Anglo workers. Tomorrow’s training modules must combine
audio/visual tools, written materials and face-to-face interaction
to advance our production animal caretakers’ knowledge and
competency.
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