Guest Columnist
Periodically, information comes along that’s more important than anything I might say on any particular subject & needs the widest distribution. This is one of those times. Two weeks ago, I mentioned that we’re losing our knowledge in Agriculture. Then, I learned of a previously published USDA report showing the demand for personnel with agriculture degrees.
The report, from former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, shows an annual requirement for “an estimated 57,900 high-skilled job openings annually in the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment fields in the United States. According to this employment outlook report released by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Purdue University, there is an average of 35,400 new U.S. graduates with a bachelor’s degree or higher in agriculture related fields, 22,500 short of the jobs available annually.”
Lest one think these all involve being on your knees seeding, weeding, hoeing and picking, “The report projects almost half of the job opportunities will be in management and business. Another 27% will be in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas. Jobs in food and biomaterials production will make up 15% and 12% of the openings will be in education, communication, and governmental services. The report also shows that women make up more than half of the food, agriculture, renewable natural resources, and environment higher education graduates in the United States. These jobs will only become more important as we continue to develop solutions to feed more than 9 billion people by 2050.”
“Job opportunities in STEM areas are expected to grow. Expect the strongest job market for plant scientists, food scientists, sustainable biomaterials specialists, water resources scientists and engineers, precision agriculture specialists, and veterinarians.” With a projected world population of 8 Billion by 2050, agricultural needs aren’t expected to do anything but increase.
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