Earlier this month- Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays talked to Coy Davidson, who will represent Oklahoma in the speech competition at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, October 23 – 26.
Hailing from Elgin, Oklahoma, Davidson has been preparing for the National FFA Convention since winning the state speech sweepstakes at the 2024 Oklahoma State FFA Convention. He tells Hays , “I will be talking about cybersecurity and espionage in agriculture. I will speak on the threats that agriculture faces due to these attacks and how more people need to know about this. This is a large issue that is at stake right now.”
He said that national security could be impacted if the agricultural sector doesn’t stay vigilant against these threats against genetics (both plant and animal), agricultural equipment, and any other data that gives U.S. producers the proprietary edge in world markets.
During his research on the subject, Davidson realized that there are multiple entities already at work to protect U.S. Agriculture from cyber-attacks. “This is already a huge issue and a lot of people are already starting to work for it. This has helped me get in contact with a lot of these people who are at the top of advancing cyber-security in Oklahoma and in some very large companies. It has been really neat to interview some of these people and learn what our state and nation are doing to protect the agricultural industry,” he stated.
Davidson began work on his speech just after fall break in 2023. It was finalized just before Christmas break in 2023, and he practiced it throughout the spring at various jackpot competitions, before he won the state speech competition this April.
“Since then, we have touched it up a little bit, but it is still the same speech, so I’ve been studying the same speech for almost a year, now,” he said.
The questions from the judges are always the wildcard in speech contests, but Davidson looks forward to the challenge they present. “I really enjoy hearing all of the questions that get brought up from the judges at these contests who are from all aspects of agriculture, from teachers to industry leaders,” he said. “It is super neat to hear the questions that they have and be able to fill, even the audience that is listening, with information that a lot of people don’t know. At the end of the day, what we are trying to do is bring awareness to these issues through these speeches.”
Davidson encouraged every FFA member to participate in public speaking because of the benefits it has provided to him. “From my first speech in the eighth grade, I have learned so much,” he said. “You learn how to speak in front of a group of people. That is something that a lot of people are scared of and don’t know how to do. You also learn big topic issues that affect our country today, so get to learn about these and study all the aspects that relate to the speech. Then you go present it and plead your case about this issue, so it is super cool.”
Click here to see a comprehensive list of Oklahoma FFA members competing and/or being honored during the 2024 convention. Click here to see the website for the National FFA Convention for 2024 in Indianapolis.
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