From staff reports Elgin native Coy Davidson is expected to represent Oklahoma at the Prepared Public Speaking competition during the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this week.
Davidson’s speech delves into a pressing issue for producers across the nation: agriculture cybersecurity and espionage. Davidson, Elgin FFA Chapter president, said national security could be impacted if the agricultural sector doesn’t remain vigilant against threats to genetics (both plant and animal), equipment and data that gives U.S. producers an edge in world markets. During his research, Davidson found multiple entities are working to protect U.S. agriculture from cyberattacks.
“This is already a huge issue,” he warns, “and a lot of people are already starting to work for it.” Davidson was able to “get in contact with a lot of these people who are at the top of advancing cybersecurity in Oklahoma and in some very large companies.”
Through those multiple interviews, he was able to “learn what our state and nation are doing to protect the agricultural industry,” he said.
To compete in this year’s speaking competition at the national convention, Davidson began constructing his speech after fall break 2023, finalizing it before Christmas break 2023. He practiced throughout the spring at jackpot competitions before winning state in April.
“Since then, we have touched it up a little bit, but it is still the same speech,” he said. “So I’ve been studying the same speech for almost a year, now.”
While judges’ questions can be unpredictable, Davidson said he looks forward to them.
“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,” he said.
“At the end of the day, what we are trying to do is bring awareness to these issues through these speeches.”