Showpig.com Main Logo
Featured image for the article titled Get Schooled for Ag Careers

Get Schooled for Ag Careers

Friday, August 18, 2017

Education Lifestyle

It’s time to go back to school, and some of us may be more excited than others to grab our backpacks and head off to learn new things. There is a common misconception that students interested in production agriculture don’t need to pursue further education after high school graduation, but the Showpig.com team wanted to share some stats with you about how important it is to get schooled in ag.

Did you know many agribusiness jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree? According to the AgCareers.com 2016 Agribusiness Job Report, half of the jobs posted on their site, last year, required a bachelor’s degree or higher.

If that isn’t enough to make you consider valuing your education, then consider this. The majority of AgCareers.com applicants (60 percent) had a bachelor’s degree or higher, and nearly half held that degree in an ag-related field, according to the same AgCarers.com report.

Clearly, education is important, and so is experience. Jobs in swine production accounted for more than 20 percent of the total AgCareers.com postings in the Midwest. This means that young people with a background in swine production are a hot commodity for employers in the Midwest, but swine production isn’t the only opportunity-filled segment of the agricultural industry.

In 2015, the USDA announced that ag jobs were growing. Until 2020, they estimate that employers would be looking for nearly 60,000 highly-skilled agricultural workers annually, but there is only expected to be about 35,000 graduates to fill them. According to this 2015 report, there will be great demand for students with training in e-commerce, marketing, agricultural science and business education, crop advising and pest control. If you fell in love with STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics) in 4-H, you’re in luck. STEM careers are also expected to grow. The future looks bright for plant, food and water resources scientists; precision agriculture and sustainable biomaterials specialists; and veterinarians.

So, Showpig.com readers, remember it is cool to get schooled. It will likely help you land a job in our great industry one day. Careers are of course a personal choice, as is furthering your education, but we encourage young people to research different fields of interest, talk to professionals who make their living that way and look into ways to succeed in their chosen path.

Study hard and stay off the Internet during class … unless you’re looking at Showpig.com, of course.