Speakers outline agriculture jobs outlook
By Bret Hayworth Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2005
Le Mars (Iowa) High School senior Matt Becker was way ahead of the academics speaking at the second annual Western Iowa Tech Community College agriculture day.
The four-hour session Wednesday was designed to shed light on the future of ag-related careers. Dr. Awoke Dollisso, WIT agriculture instructor, and Iowa State University agricultural education department chairman Dr. Robert Martin described how ag jobs are changing and moving beyond traditional production agriculture of growing crops and raising livestock.
They spoke about how advanced education is needed for the host of burgeoning jobs in biotechnology, animal genetics and marketing.
Becker, with generations of family farmers preceding him, has plans to attend ISU next fall. "You have to have a college degree to make it in farming these days, in order to make it work," he said.
He's seen the fruits of a post-high school education for agriculture, noting an uncle with college now is the manager of a co-op. While Becker has done of lot of farming from an early age with his father, he has plans to pursue an agriculture business degree, with rough plans to go into marketing. "Food safety would be a fun one, too," Becker added.
About 70 high school students attended the ag day. Becker said "most are talking like something in ag" for their future careers. ISU's Martin said "it is easy to get discouraged" with the sometimes-low commodity prices for livestock and grain, but those mulling agricultural jobs need to recognize there are a host of opportunities beyond production ag. Martin said about 22 percent of U.S. jobs are ag-related, with only about 2 to 3 percent in production agriculture.
Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto sophomore Justin Maynard said he expects to work near the Mapleton farm he now lives on. Maynard said he will "probably go straight into farming livestock" after high school. He said he's not concerned that family farm life is on the wane in the Midwest, although it's a topic "my dad talks about."
Martin said 52,000 ag-related jobs will need to be filled in each of the next five years. "Agriculture is more than farming," Martin said, and even production farming has a new title: "growing plants and animal systems."
The hot jobs area in agriculture, he said, now is in sales and marketing -- where one-third of ISU agriculture department graduates end up -- food safety and security, plant and animal genetics, food nutrition, environmental science and veterinary science. "You ought to consider career opportunities in those," Martin said.
In biotechnology's intersection with agriculture, he said, "you haven't seen anything," and the biotech products now on the market are just "the tip of the iceberg." Said Martin, "The ag industry is a dynamic one in which young people have a lot of opportunities. ... The careers are just there for the taking, if you follow through."
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
The four-hour session Wednesday was designed to shed light on the future of ag-related careers. Dr. Awoke Dollisso, WIT agriculture instructor, and Iowa State University agricultural education department chairman Dr. Robert Martin described how ag jobs are changing and moving beyond traditional production agriculture of growing crops and raising livestock.
They spoke about how advanced education is needed for the host of burgeoning jobs in biotechnology, animal genetics and marketing.
Becker, with generations of family farmers preceding him, has plans to attend ISU next fall. "You have to have a college degree to make it in farming these days, in order to make it work," he said.
He's seen the fruits of a post-high school education for agriculture, noting an uncle with college now is the manager of a co-op. While Becker has done of lot of farming from an early age with his father, he has plans to pursue an agriculture business degree, with rough plans to go into marketing. "Food safety would be a fun one, too," Becker added.
About 70 high school students attended the ag day. Becker said "most are talking like something in ag" for their future careers. ISU's Martin said "it is easy to get discouraged" with the sometimes-low commodity prices for livestock and grain, but those mulling agricultural jobs need to recognize there are a host of opportunities beyond production ag. Martin said about 22 percent of U.S. jobs are ag-related, with only about 2 to 3 percent in production agriculture.
Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto sophomore Justin Maynard said he expects to work near the Mapleton farm he now lives on. Maynard said he will "probably go straight into farming livestock" after high school. He said he's not concerned that family farm life is on the wane in the Midwest, although it's a topic "my dad talks about."
Martin said 52,000 ag-related jobs will need to be filled in each of the next five years. "Agriculture is more than farming," Martin said, and even production farming has a new title: "growing plants and animal systems."
The hot jobs area in agriculture, he said, now is in sales and marketing -- where one-third of ISU agriculture department graduates end up -- food safety and security, plant and animal genetics, food nutrition, environmental science and veterinary science. "You ought to consider career opportunities in those," Martin said.
In biotechnology's intersection with agriculture, he said, "you haven't seen anything," and the biotech products now on the market are just "the tip of the iceberg." Said Martin, "The ag industry is a dynamic one in which young people have a lot of opportunities. ... The careers are just there for the taking, if you follow through."
Bret Hayworth may be reached at (712) 293.4203 or brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com
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