QUINCY — In Rod Cool’s estimation, ag teachers have a pretty important job.

“One thing I always tell people about teaching ag and FFA is that, now more than ever, agriculture education in high schools is the most important thing that they can teach,” he said. “Because the farm population is so small, percentage-wise, there’s no way that it can sustain itself. Less than 2% of Americans are producers that produce for everyone else, and then almost the rest of the world. So it’s our job as ag teachers to make sure that for every 100 graduates at any high school we turn out two farmers, because if we don’t we’re going to starve to death.”

Cool is in his 36th year as an ag teacher, he said, including the last six at Quincy High School, and he’s got no plans to move on any time soon.

“I plan on sticking it out as long as they’ll have me. As long as I feel like I’m making a difference with the kids,” he said.

Cool is also one of the advisors for the QHS Future Farmers of America, and was recognized for his contributions to the organization with an Honorary American FFA Degree at the beginning of the school year.

“It’s the highest award that FFA can bestow on someone who’s not a member at the time,” he said. “They give it to community members, people that have really supported FFA. They talk about going above and beyond in their support for FFA and what it does.”

It was a little bit of a humbling experience to get the award, he said. It’s the non-FFA-member equivalent of the American FFA degree. And Cool said he almost, but not quite, got one of those during his days at Chelan High School.

His dad had a day job, but he grew up around agriculture, he said.

“We had cattle and a few sheep. In high school I had my own flock of sheep - I had 24 ewes and a really nice ram I raised and showed,” he said. “Then we had an outfitters business - as a way to justify having more horses to work the cows with - so when I was in high school I packed people into the hills in the summertime.”

He got into the teaching field, he said, because as a student he saw good teachers doing their work, including his CHS ag teacher. He attended Washington State University, and looked at different options including the WSU veterinary program.

“I applied to vet school and didn’t get in, so I decided, ‘I’m going to finish up my teaching degree.’ And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since,” he said.

His career took him from Metaline Falls to Zillah, to Wenatchee and then back to Chelan before coming to Quincy.

Cool and fellow QHS ag teacher Mike Wallace are the leads in a statewide program to recruit and retain ag teachers, and he said wants young teachers to know how important a teacher’s role can be to young people.

“That’s the one thing we tell them all, is to stress how important it is that you do your job well,” he said. “It’s super important that you learn your craft, you keep honing your craft, and you learn how to recruit kids into (agriculture). You have to be a good teacher, but at the same time you have to convince kids this is what they need to do for the rest of their lives.”

It’s important to interest young people in agricultural careers not just because the U.S. needs farmers, Cool said, but also because an ag career is a good investment in the time spent to build it. That’s what he tells his students when they come into his classes.

“I tell them they’re the smartest kids in the school because they’re here, and this is where the jobs are going to be for the next 50 years,” he said. “For their entire working life, there will always be jobs in agriculture. And as the people become more scarce, those jobs will become more valuable.

“When they are freshmen I tell them, if you choose to do this, if you stay in this program for the next four years, and you enter a career anywhere in that food pipeline, from farm to fork, you’re going to be valuable,” Cool said. “And that’s not going to make you not only employable, it will probably make you rich.”

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at [email protected].