This morning an article titled “College Majors that are Useless”
appeared on Yahoo. Sadly this article includes three agriculture degrees –
Agriculture, Animal Science and Horticulture – which do not deserve to be
placed on such a list. I suppose the author must not be worried about eating or
wearing clothes. As is typical in an attack on agriculture, the research and
science is on our side.
FACT: Agriculture majors are in demand. Take a look at this
report from the Center of Excellence. http://www.coeccc.net/Environmental_Scans/ag_scan_cv_11.pdf
Overall, jobs in agriculture are expected to grow by 180,000 positions in
California alone over the next five years. These numbers take into account the
decrease in production jobs as a result of increasing efficiencies and
mechanization.
FACT: Careers in Agriculture are well paid. The Center of
Excellence found that in California careers pay an annual salary of $50,000
compared to the California average of $43,000.
FACT: The world population hit 7 billion in 2011. The population
is expected to keep growing, but our limited resources will not grow. The
professionals in agriculture will continue to work to produce more food on less
land and using fewer resources. This will require more people working to make
this happen.
So before deciding that a degree in agriculture is anything
but a great route to a future career in a tremendously important industry, please
review the facts. Oh, and maybe thank a farmer and all the agricultural
professionals who provided the food for your table today, probably the shoes
you are wearing and clothes on your back. I think I heard once that “hungry and
naked” is where we would be without agriculture.
7 comments:
I just emailed Mr. Loose tloose@gmail.com
What a stir you have caused Mr. Loose!
Have you realized the impact you have created in such a short amount of time by writing such a simple article?
I’m assuming (and probably correctly) that you are not friends with many people involved in agriculture, because if you were you would be witnessing what happens when you take aim at the agriculture industry. My facebook has been flooded by friends in the ag industry showing their support against your article. Next time you decide to discredit an amazing industry you might want to do more research than summarize a survey taken from a few companies (insert statistical joke here).
In case you missed it:
A facebook group created only a few hours ago in response to your article called “I Studied Agriculture & I Have A Job” was formed and at this second has almost 1,000 “likes” you might find many of the posts interesting to read, but that would require some investigative journalism which might be too much work for you.
“Great Careers in Agriculture” – Shannon Douglas
http://houseagbuilt.blogspot.com/2012/01/great-careers-in-agriculture.html?spref=fb
AgCareers.com posted a response to your recent article “The Importance of Agriculture”
http://www.agcareers.com/document.cfm?task=view&id=62761
and I could go on and on, but you probably have a few more emails in your inbox to get to…
Sara Eidman (Ag Business Major, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)
Marketing Coordinator (Hired because I was an Ag Major)
Duarte Nursery (Ag Company, who at this very moment is hiring multiple positions)
Hey girl!
I'd love to know just how common this is:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c3#/video/living/2012/01/19/dnt-cows-sleep-on-waterbeds.wjw
:)
Viktoria - I can't get the video to play but the title seems to refer to cows with water beds. Cow comfort is very important to farmers - a comfy cow will produce more milk. As a result there re many ways they keep the cows comfortable, including water beds. Water beds are pretty common, as as sand for bedding and cows getting individual "stalls" with thick sand bedding. Maybe I will have to do a post on cow comfort!
Great blog post! Simple, to the point and correct. As for Sarah... Google Trent Loose... I don't think he's the one you want to attack. He didnt write the article and is an AWESOME ag advocate!
I could not agree more! It truly gets tiresome to be on the side of Ag that is consistantly being attacked for one thing or another. NIce job!
Several other bloggers are approaching this topic as well. Oh the fire that this article has started. Great post!
You have saved me completely!Thanks so much this is just what ive been looking for.Agriculture Careers
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