AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, the major findings for direct farm workers (the above referenced 2 million) are that:

• The farm worker population is increasingly male (80%)
• The population is increasingly foreign born (70%)
• Farm workers are young (2/3 are less than 35) and 20% are in their first year
• Most adult foreign farm workers are married and have children
• Most (3/5) of these are poor
• The proportion of unauthorized workers is now 37%

This leaves us with the basic question, where does the agriculture industry source the other 20 million jobs, and what are the opportunities, challenges, and prospects of these positions?

Today’s agriculture offers over 200 rewarding and challenging careers. Agricultural careers may be divided into various categories. These include: Agribusiness Management, Agricultural and Natural Resources Communications, Building Construction Management, Parks Recreation and Tourism Resources, Packaging, Horticulture, Forestry, Food Science, and Fisheries/Wildlife.

According to the Farm Bureau News, published by the American Farm Bureau Federation, “Food scientists and engineers will be in the greatest demand in the agricultural job market in the next four years. Annual job openings for U.S. food and agricultural graduates are projected to be around 58,000 with an expected number of graduates to fill these positions around 57,000.”

32% of these openings will be for positions in science, engineering, and related specialties. Jobs in marketing, merchandising and sales will compromise another 28%.

These figures are the result of a national study produced through a joint cooperative agreement between the USDA and Purdue University.

Among the professions expected to be in great demand are food scientists and engineers, landscape horticulturists, plant geneticists, and outdoor recreation specialists.”

Weaker employment opportunities will exist for those who provide services to farmers and ranchers. Hiring will also be down in agriculture and forest production, veterinary medicine, general practices, and for some government agencies.”

“Graduates who add value to raw materials produced by farmers and market those products both here and abroad will see expanding employment opportunities.”

Students with science and marketing skills will be the most sought after.

The four key factors fueling agricultural hiring demands are:

• Merging and consolidating businesses.
• Continuing Globalization
• Changing Consumer demands
• Public Policy Decisions

The study continues “Students graduating in the next few years are going to face some complex problems during their careers”. The four elements presented above will dictate the course of those actions.

One of the biggest obstacles in the pursuit of agricultural careers is that most people have a difficult time changing their time honored impressions of agriculture. They still view agriculture as “just farming”. Many researchers report that the leading factor in career choices is the admiration of a successful person in that occupation. Parents tend to be the most influential in this process. Agriculture traditionally suffers from a lack of positive role models, and most new careers are started because of a family legacy in the industry.

Modern day agriculture has two main branches: technological and social sciences. Students pursuing the technological side study natural sciences and technology. In the social side, concerns such as economics, community development, sales and marketing are predominant.

A balanced four year curriculum for such careers consists of general courses in liberal arts, basic sciences, and mathematics. Specialized courses would include natural resources, food science, horticulture, agricultural economics, plant science, wild life management, and forestry.

Opportunities are abundant for minority candidates. According to the 1990 census, African-Americans accounted for only 3.1% of employed foresters, and 6.9 % of employed forestry technicians. Industry sources would like to increase those numbers by three to four times in the near future. This under representation of minorities is attributed to a belief that low socioeconomic status is associated with these jobs. There are increasingly more openings and opportunities in urban areas. As cities confront problems such as water quality, nutrition and health, and deteriorating infrastructure, they have an increased need for agriculture professionals.

Along with these opportunities are ones involved with consumption of food. Issues related to food and fiber production and interdependence of urban and rural ecosystems are important to human life.

To summarize, the employment outlook for careers in these areas is extremely bright. Large percentages of the individuals now holding these positions began their careers in the late 1950’s and are reaching retirement age. This is especially true in the technical and scientific branches of agriculture careers, which offer prestige, professional recognition, and opportunities for advancement.