The drought monitor report as of Tuesday, Feb. 7 indicates no change. The forecast isn’t likely to help alleviate these extreme and exceptional drought conditions in the near term. If this trend doesn’t change, it will be a challenge making decisions for the winter crop and as we head into spring planting. The six to ten-day outlook (Feb. 14 to 18) indicates near normal temperatures and 40 to 50% chance of above normal precipitation. The eight to 14-day outlook (Feb. 16 to 22) indicates normal to slightly above normal temperatures and a near normal precipitation. We are slowly seeing the precipitation chances increasing trending upward a tick or two.
Last week, this week, and going back as far as last November, Barton Community College has hosted career exploration events for area students. The Career Fair this past Friday had over 700 students in attendance. The Senior Day was well attended and the Junior Day this Wednesday also has a significant registration. The careers explored range from one semester certificates to two- and four- year degrees. This is a column about agriculture and that’s what we’ll focus on. Roughly five to ten percent of participants were interested in some aspect of an agricultural career. However, to fill the expected need for trained employees, all of these students and many more are needed. As are older, nontraditional students. All are sought by an industry that has an aging workforce, an ever changing, more and more technical industry, and is expected to become more efficient, even more environmentally safe, while increasing production is a changing climate.
The good news is that opportunities for that training for interested individuals exists – from one and two semester certificates to two- and four- year and even graduate degrees. Community colleges like Barton provide focused programs preparing individuals for careers in areas from Crop Protection, Beef Cattle, Ag. Business Management, Agriculture, and Agronomy to CDL and Scales Technician. All these are vital to agriculture and employers from individual producers to Co-Ops and even the FSA and NRCS are constantly contacting the college for potential employees. Many are willing to hire individuals part-time while attending college. Some will even reimburse individuals as they successfully complete their coursework.
Salaries and benefit packages vary but most are good paying jobs with good to excellent benefits packages and opportunities for advancement. Many only require a certificate or two-year degree. And these organizations are looking for excellent employees from a pool that consists of a pool of those just graduating high school to those with 20 or more years of work experience under their belts.
Besides what has already been outlined, one of the major advantages of these careers is that everyone has to eat and in an ever changing, rapidly evolving industry, careers are pretty secure for those willing to put in the effort.
Dr. Victor L. Martin is the agriculture instructor/coordinator for Barton Community College. He can be reached at 620-792-9207, ext. 207, or martinv@bartonccc.edu.
