College and Career Awareness AgVenture College and Career Awareness

What is agriculture? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary states that it is “the science, art, or practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock and in varying degrees the preparation and marketing of the resulting products.” Goods produced on farms must be processed and made available to consumers, thereby linking farm production to fork consumption, fabric fashion, home construction, fuel for transportation, or for the numerous “by-products” used in manufacturing (e.g. plant and animal products used in paint, adhesives, medicine, paper, batteries, etc.).

By the Numbers In the United States, the food and agriculture industry is composed of an estimated 2.2 million farms, 900,000 restaurants, and more than 400,000 registered food manufacturing, processing, and storage facilities.1 This sector accounts for roughly one-fifth of the nation's economic activity, and some estimates put the supportive workforce at nearly 22 million. This sector of our economy has critical dependencies and interactions with many other industries. Can you think of a few examples? 1U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 2009. National Infrastructure Protection Plan: Food and Agriculture Sector. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. http://www.dhs.gov/food-and-agriculture-sector.

More than farmers and ranchers An agricultural career may not involve working directly on a farm, but the careers support: production processing distribution, and consumption The agricultural sector of our economy is made up of people who help us all to meet our basic needs. Is it possible to have an ag-less day? How many careers might be connected to agriculture?