If you read to the end of this column, consider yourself above average.

In the year of our Lord 2024, 54% of adults have a literacy below a sixth-grade level, and 20% read and comprehend at below a fifth-grade level.

This, according to the National Literacy Institute, means that more than half of American adults could have trouble reading and understanding scientific publications, legal briefs and legislation, terms and conditions for their digital devices, or the directions on a crop-protection product label.

Now, the American Psychological Association reports that work out of the University of California-Irvine shows the average American attention span has shrunk in the past 20 years. In 2004, the first measurement of average screentime attention span was clocked at 2.5 minutes.

In 2024, the average is about 47 seconds — give or take a blink.

I hesitated to lead this column with those statistics in fear that I would lose a reader or two out of boredom. But you’re sticking with me, right? I promise there is a point to be made.

I spend a good portion of my life in spaces where very smart people are trying to communicate very complex and scientific information in order to improve agricultural production and profitability.

These are very, very smart people. And I’m in awe of them — really and truly.

Related:Southwest Kansas leads the state’s agriculture industry

But I fear that their work is going to become futile if we don’t figure out a way to communicate it to the public in a better manner.

I do my part — I hope — to distill their work into words that you, the reader, can understand and apply to your farms and ranches. But not everyone reads the Kansas Farmer. And so, they rely on the science reporters of their local newspaper, their local television station, the cable news networks and, worse, social media.

That calls into question the validity of the information they’re receiving second-hand. And with just 28% of American adults considered scientifically literate, according to Science Daily, this means there’s a lot of Americans out there who are making decisions for their families, their businesses, their communities and their country based on bad input they’ve gathered from sources that are not credible. And they may not even know it.

Still with me?

I say it’s not enough that we have some of the smartest scientists working on our complex food and agriculture challenges if we don’t give them the tools and support to teach and communicate that to John Q. Public.

The voting consumer, John Q. Public, that is.

We need to change as a society to not only make the scientific advancements, but to teach our fellow citizens about them in a way that they can understand.

Related:Remembering Sam Stanley inspires us to forge ahead

It’s in all of our best interests if we start today.

Will this change things overnight? No. But little by little, we can start to move the needle so that our family and neighbors can better understand how incredible modern agriculture and food production is today. Slowly, we can build a nation that can focus longer than 47 seconds on a page.

Related:Go out and make your 2025 great

See? Told you it was worth it if you just stuck with me.