Growing up on a farm in Russellville, Mo., Holly Enowski knew the importance of food but realized production agriculture wasn’t her passion.
In 2014, Enowski attended the World Food Prize Foundation Global Youth Institute conference, a three-day event in Des Moines, Iowa, through which she learned more about the intersection of human rights and agriculture. The experience guided her career path in agricultural communications and education.
In the summer of 2016, before the start of her freshman year at the University of Missouri in Columbia, the Eldon FFA alumna participated in an internship in Kenya and Uganda where she taught fifth-grade students and interviewed farmers. Both experiences set her on a path to international development work and becoming a passionate zero-hunger advocate.
“I had the students write me letters [when I returned to the United States]. One of my students wanted to be a pilot and he wrote that he knew that it wasn’t possible because he was always hungry,” she says. “I thought, ‘That’s not fair. Where you’re from shouldn’t determine the kinds of opportunities or access to resources that you have.’”
While she worked on completing bachelor’s degrees in science and agricultural journalism, Enowski’s international experiences continued; she studied abroad in Costa Rica and Italy. In each destination, she learned about food insecurity, food safety and the connection between agriculture and the environment.
“It helped me realize that food insecurity is happening everywhere,” she says. “Hunger exists in Africa; it exists in Costa Rica; it exists in Missouri; it exists in our FFA chapters.”
To recognize Human Rights Day on December 10, Enowski encourages FFA chapters to raise awareness about agriculture’s role in tackling food insecurity and hunger through meal packing events, food drives and volunteering with local food pantries. Throughout the year, chapters can work to reduce food waste, contribute to school lunch programs and support international agricultural trade and development, she adds.
“You can’t be a great leader, a great student, a great FFA member if you’re worried about where your next meal is coming from,” Enowski says. “If we don’t solve it, we’ll have a lot more kids who won’t be able to enrich the world.”
Are you curious about the connection between agriculture and human rights? Learn more about Human Rights Day.
