October is the start of my busy travel season, and I kicked things off with a trip to the Adriatic Sea with my gal pals. Luckily all my friends are farm people so we always work in a little agritourism and visited Ston, a small village on Croatia’s Pelješac Peninsula. 

Ston is a place where you can feel history because it still exists. Stone walls and fortifications were built centuries ago to protect the town and its valuable saltworks. Today, salt is still harvested from the seawater using traditional methods, carrying on a practice that helped shape the region’s economy and history.

Salt was once known as “white gold” because of its value. A reminder that food production has always been about more than what we put on our plates and is tied to livelihoods, communities and traditions passed from one generation to the next.

Anna and Mario, a father-daughter team, took us on a tour of the nearby Mali Ston Bay where they are one of a few dozen families that have cultivated oysters and mussels for around 500 years. We learned about the processes they use to grow the shellfish over a three-year period and why the bay is a perfect to producea high-quality product.

We were all surprised to learn that Ana and her family live far away from the bay. She is the only one of her siblings who works with her dad in the business, and they regularly commute more than an hour to the family’s operation. Agritourism is something they started since 2020. Her dad wasn’t sold on the idea initially, but it has since become an important part of the operation.

Preserving a tradition doesn’t always mean doing things exactly as they’ve always been done. A long history and a strong family legacy are meaningful, but they don’t guarantee that the next generation will choose to continue them. Sometimes, keeping a business viable means finding new ways to share what you do, reach customers and create opportunities for the next generation.

After Croatia, I made a quick turnaround to Indianapolis for National FFA Convention. One of my favorite things about attending this event is seeing students get excited about agriculture. I credit FFA with many things including helping cement agriculture as my career. Even though I grew up on a farm, it wasn’t something I seriously considered until FFA. The experiences I gained through that organization helped me see the possibilities agriculture offered and the role I could craft for my future. 

Whether a family has farmed for five generations or 500 years won’t ensure that farm’s future. We have to help young people understand why agriculture matters and show them the opportunities available to them by supporting programs like FFA, encouraging students to explore agricultural careers and being open to new ideas. 

That means recognizing the next generation may approach things differently than the generation before it. They may find new markets, embrace new technology or discover opportunities we haven't considered.

If we want agriculture to remain viable for generations to come, we must do more than ask young people to continue what we’ve always done. We must help them see a future in agriculture — and be willing to let them shape what that future looks like.

Tradition gives us something worth preserving. But change may be what makes that preservation possible.