Evolving Job Market
In many parts of America, agriculture
has found itself reframed amid a larger
economic cluster commonly known as
“food systems.”
Recent changes in consumer demand
for food, food experience, food security, eating habits and lifestyles, plus
renewed interest in corn and other
crops as viable sources of alternative
energy, have opened the door to a host
of economic and agricultural career
opportunities, many of which require
an entirely different skill set than
those required to produce and harvest
conventional crops and livestock for
commodity markets.
Amid these changes has emerged a
new generation of agricultural professionals, many of them young people,
undaunted by the admonitions of former Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz
and others to “get big or get out” of the
farming business.
These progressive thinkers have new
ideas about the economics of growing,
packaging, and marketing high-profit
specialty and artisanal items such as
bok choy, Russian red kale, Osaka
purple mustard, soy milk, and hon-tsai-ta. Many of them would rather
raise llamas and cultivate local organic
gardens than produce acres of soybeans to sell as commodities. And they
are turning to community colleges to
provide them with the skills to make a
living doing it.
El Reno, Okla., recently took over a
110-acre site to house the Darlington
Agricultural Education and Applied
Research Center with about 100
students.
• Johnson County Community College
in Kansas cooperates with Kansas
State University to teach sustainable
and organic farming to meet the
demand for local and organic foods in
Kansas City.
• Alfred State in New York has a Center
for Organic and Sustainable Agriculture, as well as the Pioneer Farm,
which teaches about sustainable farming and grazing and humane animal
husbandry.
• Marshalltown Community College
in Iowa claims the Midwest’s first
degree program in sustainable
agriculture, which began in 2004 and
is supported by the Leopold Center for
Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State.
• Seattle Central Community College is
just starting a new 19-credit “
emphasis” within AAS, AA, and certificate
programs in Sustainable Agriculture
for the Bioregion.
• Mesa Community College outside of
Phoenix has a new urban-oriented
certificate and AAS program in Sustainable Food Systems that integrates
organics, culinary arts, food disposal,
and direct sales. Its goal, according to
The Role of Community
Colleges
Changes in food-based education are
already under way. Many community
colleges are integrating sustainability
and diversification into existing
agricultural programs. And a growing number of colleges are starting or
planning new programs. Many of these
colleges are members of the Alliance for
Sustainability, a network of community
colleges dedicated to sustainable rural
development funded by the Ford Foundation. (For more, visit www.ccsustain
abilityalliance.com/about.html.)
A few examples:
