Jobs in Agriculture Skyrocketing!

By Ashley Oddo, CCEDC Project Coordinator

A recent article out of Purdue University entitled, “National Report Details Expected Job Openings in Ag, Related Fields”, predicts that over the next 5 years nearly 58,000 jobs will open annually across the U.S. in food, agriculture, renewable natural resources and environmental occupations. The fact that there will be such an abundance of job openings in this field suggests that there is a huge need for a highly skilled and trained workforce to support the industry as well as the expected world population of 9 billion by 2050.

What does this mean for college graduates? There will be an immense opportunity for students graduating in agricultural fields. Out of all the types of work available in the growing agricultural-related jobs, 46% will be in management and business. An additional 27% will be in the STEM sectors of agriculture – science, technology, engineering, and math. 15% will be jobs in food and biomaterials production, with the remaining 12% in education, communication and governmental services. The group of growing STEM jobs will most likely be comprised of plant scientists, food scientists, sustainable biomaterials specialists, water resources scientists and engineers, precision agriculture specialists and veterinarians.

It sounds like agriculture is going to be quite the hot topic of the economy for the next several years! Read more here.