We have witnessed a lot in the past six months. We can talk about it for days and we should, as it will go down in history as a time we nearly ran out of toilet paper and everyone binge watched a documentary about caged big cats.
Everyone has noticed so many different aspects of this pandemic.
One of the amazing things about this was that the essential workers kept working because society needed them.
During this time, the essential workers were more important than any famous movie star or sports person.
The essential workers kept the world turning.
It raised a clear and obvious statement to me and most likely the rest of the world that there is real security within these roles.
Will we see an increase in people wanting to become essential workers in the future?
As time went on, there were more changes and a few big headlines hit the news, about China banning imports, firstly beef from specific sites and then barley.
To most of us in agriculture this was not a surprise, but what I did find interesting about this was the Google search trends over this period.
During this time, the search "what is barley" increased 20-fold and the search following that "what is barley used for" increase 75-fold.
This illustrates to me a massive gap in our education system.
Not knowing where milk comes from is one thing, but not knowing how you get beer is a whole separate issue.
I don't expect everyone to be agricultural gurus, but a basic understanding of where food comes from is critical.
It's oft said "never waste a crisis".
As an industry let's not waste this one and encourage agriculture as part of our educational curriculum and illustrate it is a secure career path and whatever happens in life, we all need feeding at day's end.
I am lucky enough to be part of the Future Farmers Network and we get to support people to grow and further their careers in agriculture.
As part of the network there are various educational, networking and career development opportunities but there might just be a step missing between us and students at school or leaving it.
The government was pushing the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) initiatives of which an "early learning and schooling" initiative alone is getting $64.6 million for "training initiatives to help students embrace the digital age and prepare for the jobs of the future".
I am 100pc for encouraging and driving this education, but maybe after this crisis we should reassess and that acronym could be changed to STEAM, the 'A' standing for agriculture.
By Simon Kensit, a Future Farmers Network director.
