We received more snow than forecast and while it certainly put a halt to the remaining harvest and wheat planting, there are some benefits. The biggest benefit is a nice insulating blanket to protect the wheat and help keep heat in the soil. A benefit and a problem is more soil moisture. Compared to the last several years, the wheat crop is in excellent shape regarding soil moisture for the winter. Now onto today’s topic.
Most of us never think of how much the weight of things and the need to accurately weigh play into our everyday lives. This is especially important in agriculture. All of the products of agriculture from grain and hay to pork, beef, and poultry are sold by weight as are many inputs. Scales play a vital role in every aspect of agricultural industry. And it continues into our everyday lives from the food we eat to many of the everyday products we buy. Go into a Dillon’s or Walmart and each checkout scanner is also a scale. Purchase meat or cheese or produce. Mail or ship something and you pay by weight. Scales are everywhere and these are scales where money changes hand. They are commercial scales. This means they have to be certified as accurate and comply with all pertinent rules and regulations of the state they are located in. So why bring this up? The weights and measures industry needs employees to not only install and service scales but individuals qualified to be licensed by states to certify the scales.
This is where you or someone you know may come in. Barton Community College has a one semester, 25 credit hour certificate program training individuals to become scale technicians. This program was designed in cooperation with the scale industry and Weights and Measures of the Kansas Department of Agriculture to prepare people to work in the scale industry. Barton Community College has the only program of this kind in the Midwest. And there is a chronic shortage in Kansas and nationwide for scale technicians. Age and gender don’t matter to the industry as they want hardworking focused individuals who can work independently and as part of a team. These are good paying jobs with benefits. This is a career that can be obtained with one semester of training. One student in the program already has a position with a starting salary of $18 per hour, full benefits, and a company vehicle.
The advantages of this career path include that it is a stable career, not just a job; these positions pay well above minimum wage with benefits; hard work is rewarded monetarily; and the industry wants to interview students for employment upon completion of the program. The current class at Barton is finishing up and the class starting in January is currently enrolling. However, with limited class size due to the hands on nature of this training, if you or someone you know is interested, they should contact the college as soon as possible.
Dr. Victor L. Martin is the agriculture instructor/coordinator for Barton Community College. He can be reached at 620-792-9207, ext. 207.
