The agriculture industry and its environmental efforts are hot topics in the news, yet many young people aren't seeing the plethora of career opportunities available to them in agriculture.
Allie Morse, an agronomist with the Cooperative Elevator Company in Pigeon, Michigan say it's important for growers and suppliers to communicate better to college graduates about the high-tech career opportunities available in agriculture.
Technology advancements in the agricultural community are allowing growers to better understand and deal with potential environmental impacts their operations can have. With reference to Michigan, Morse explains “since we are so close to the great lakes, a lot of growers are mindful” of these impacts.
Technological advancements in the field have also led to more environmentally-friendly products and methods for production. Morse mentions that her growers are taking a liking to ESN (Environmentally Safe Nitrogen) to meet their need for fertilizer, and are now “applying fertilizer only where it is needed” rather than using the traditional “broadcasting method” in which the fertilizer is applied to an entire area, often leaving extra behind that will end up as an environmental contaminant.
Even at home many people are still using the “broadcasting method” but should be applying fertilizer only where it is needed to minimize negative environmental impact, says Morse.
After growing up in an agricultural background, Morse had general knowledge of agriculture and graduated with an interpersonal communications degree from Western Michigan University and found herself in the agricultural business.
Morse stresses that communication skills are extremely useful, especially as a young woman in the business. When asked about her experiences with growers, Morse says “They respect me. They all know they can joke with me, but at the end of the day I’m there for business. I think they put a lot of value and trust into that”.
Many individuals in the field “won’t pull into driveways or make relationships with their growers”, she says. Because of this, she says, “retail companies are having to do quite a bit of training” with new employees, even those who have degrees from top agricultural programs such as those at Michigan State and Purdue. “So many young people are starting to get into agriculture that don’t have an agriculture degree”, says Morse. “There are a wide variety of jobs available in agriculture, you just have to start looking for them”.