McAdam: Taught by tomato, agriculture education from the school to Dad's back room

Igrew up sitting on a workbench in the back room of my father’s store, or watching him negotiate on his back dock with farmers for corn, strawberries or tomatoes — the last stop in the American food system before food reaches your plate.

Dad taught me to tell how ripe a tomato is without bruising it, and that corn is best delivered daily — or twice a day if you can. He did it with nothing more than a high school diploma in a career he began with an after-school job when he was 16.