Unit 4 Career Options in Agriscience Survey the variety of career opportunities in agriscience, observe how they are classified, and consider how you can prepare for careers in agriscience. Note that Unit text is not visible.

Within your notes… Make a list of 10 to 15 interests you currently have in terms of a hobby or future career interest.

Definition Agriscience Fields with ties to agriscience All indoor and outdoor jobs relating in some way to plants, animals, and renewable natural resources Fields with ties to agriscience Banking and finance Radio, television, and satellite communications Engineering and design Construction and maintenance Research and education Environmental protection

Plenty of Opportunities Current agriscience outlook Employed: about 21 million New jobs annually: about 400,000 Impact of training Only 100,000 jobs are filled annually by those with agriscience training About 20% of agriscience careers require college degrees Deleted space between 20 and %

Plenty of Opportunities (cont’d.) Impact of training Many agricultural professions require four-year college degrees Technical college certificates/degrees open up other opportunities Careers that help others Processing, marketing, production, natural resources, mechanics, banking, education, writing, etc.

Plenty of Opportunities (cont’d.) Careers that satisfy Salary: dependent on qualifications Opportunities to develop and express skills and talents Career options: discuss with high school counselors

The Wheel of Fortune Hub: production agriculture (farming and ranching) Rest of the wheel: non-farm and non-ranch careers in agriscience

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Production agriculture: accounts for one-fifth of agriscience careers Most other professionals: provide goods and services that flow to or from production agriculture Allows extremely efficient supply of goods Low percent of income spent on food in America AU/DE: I made a new bullet from the text that was in the second bullet and reworded the text a bit: - Low percent of income spent on food in America

Local Individuals in the Agriculture Field Make a list of 5 questions that you would like to ask the individuals that will be speaking with you next week concerning their careers in agriculture.

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Agricultural processing, products, and distribution Hauling, grading, processing, packaging, and marketing commodities from production sources Cost of efforts consumes bulk of food dollar for cereal and bakery products (USDA)

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Horticulture Producing, processing, and marketing fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants Farming enterprise: small plots Horticultural commodities: high-labor and high-income Accounts for over 110,000 jobs

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Forestry Growing, managing, and harvesting trees for lumber, poles, posts, panels, pulpwood, and many other commodities Career opportunities: forestry researcher, teacher, wood technologist, wood products marketer, large machine operator, etc.

Hot Topics in Agriscience A career in food science Combines science and agriculture career fields in the development of new food products and processing, packaging, distribution, and marketing of food products Requires creativity: designing new products Requires college education Comparably high salaries and high demand Deleted semicolon following “products”

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Renewable natural resources Managing wetlands, rangelands, waterways, fish, and wildlife Job requirements/desirables: appreciation for natural and scientific knowledge of plants and animals; and enjoy working in parks, on game preserves, or with landowners

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Renewable natural resources: career outlook Priorities: state and regional water quality and soil conservation efforts New opportunities: programs to preserve natural waterways

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Agricultural supplies and services Selling supplies or providing services for people in the agricultural industry Supplies: seed, feed, fertilizer, lawn equipment, farm machinery, etc. Services: legal assistance, agricultural publications, financial advice, crop advice, etc. Deleted extra space preceding “agricultural publications”

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Agricultural Mechanics Designing, operating, maintaining, servicing, selling, and using agricultural power units, machinery, equipment, structures, and utilities Venue: indoors or outdoors Varying roles: employee, employer, professional

The Wheel of Fortune (cont’d.) Agriscience professionals Apply the knowledge and understanding of agriscience Can work in any division of agriscience Have advanced degrees and high levels of education and skills Computers in agriscience Applications: machinery management, farm financial records, livestock management, farm/ranch inventory management, precision farming, etc. Changed “Require” in third bullet to “Have”

Within your notes… Based on the various career areas within agricultural science we’ve discussed so far, which area do you believe you have the most interest in and why? How do you believe you could obtain a career within that agriculture field?

Preparing for an Agriscience Career Many schools Emphasize career education Important to consider how to meet the requirements to get started

Agri-Profile Agriscience teacher Shortage of qualified teachers Requirements: strong background in agriculture and related sciences and a 4-year degree in agricultural education

Preparing for an Agriscience Career (cont’d.) Agriscience career portfolio Collection of best work: sell skills to a prospective employer Possible portfolio components Resumé or vita FFA Agriscience Scholarship application Articles and papers (published and unpublished) Photographs and written reports of projects Documentation of participation in community and public service activities I moved text down a bit.

Preparing for an Agriscience Career (cont’d.) Possible portfolio components Personal letters and citations for services Letters of recommendation Personal and career goals Action plan for goal completion Newspaper articles, video clips, and sound bytes of projects I moved text down a bit.

Agri-Profile Career area: agriscience technician or professional? Technician: broadly trained in plant and animal sciences; employable in many fields; hands-on experience; specialized training beyond high school Professional: bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate-level degree Hyphenated doctorate-level

Preparing for an Agriscience Career (cont’d.) Career plan while in high school Take agriscience and college-prep classes Join FFA Participate in leadership, citizenship, and agriscience activities Develop a broad, supervised, occupational agriscience experience program I moved text down a bit.

Preparing for an Agriscience Career (cont’d.) Career plan while in high school Acquire hands-on, skill-development experiences Conduct an agriscience research project; enter it in the FFA Agriscience Scholarship and Agriscience Fair programs I moved text down a bit.

Preparing for an Agriscience Career (cont’d.) Career plan after high school Obtain an agricultural job: plan ways to get on-the-job training Take community college courses: transferable to a college of agriculture or life sciences Enter a two-year technical agriculture program Obtain a bachelor’s, master’s, and/or doctorate degree: college of agriculture or life sciences I moved text down a bit.

Agri-Profile Workforce skills: what skills will you bring to your career? U.S. Secretary of Labor: Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) report Five competencies that students need to master Resources: identifies, organizes, plans, and allocates resources Interpersonal: works with others Information: acquires and uses information I inserted a period after the S in U.S. Deleted parentheses in numbered list and changed to periods.

Agri-Profile (cont’d.) Workforce skills: what skills will you bring to your career? Five competencies that students need to master Systems: understands complex interrelationships Technology: works with a variety of technologies Changed parentheses to periods in numbered list

Science Connection When I’m twenty-something! Questionnaire: A Day on the Job in the Year 2025 How well do your current career-preparation activities mesh with your perception of yourself in the year 2025? Hyphenated twenty-something; hyphenated career-preparation

Preparing for an Agriscience Career (cont’d.) Career assistance resources High school agriscience teachers High school counselors Cooperative Extension Service State department of education Postsecondary institutions I moved text down a bit.

Hot Topics in Agriscience Agriscience careers Food technician/scientist Environmental technician Computer technician Animal technician/scientist Plant technician/scientist Global positioning System technician Biotechnology engineer

Hot Topics in Agriscience (cont’d.) Agriscience careers Veterinarian/technician Farm/ranch managers Urban forester Soil technician/scientist Genetic engineer I moved text down a bit.

Select a career you are interested in… Working conditions Beginning & ending salary Chances for advancement Educational requirements Job Benefits (insurance, vacations, retirement, etc.)