Farm careers go beyond the barn

If you want to get a sense of the breadth of jobs in agriculture today, take a look through some of the job titles available at AgCareers.com: chief executive officer, research associate, dairy nutrition sales manager and process engineer.

Businesses and educators are working to show prospective workers and students agricultural jobs encompass a much wider spectrum than they may think.

The seeds of future careers in agriscience and agribusiness are planted in places like Pulaski High School, where 16 classes across eight career paths introduce students to careers including animal science, natural resource systems, agribusiness and biotechnology.

"About 4 percent of all jobs in agriculture are on a farm in production ag," said Kaleb Santy, agriculture instructor and FFA adviser at Pulaski High School.

That means a slew of other jobs tied to the farm, but not necessarily working directly on the farm.

"More than likely, (students) are going to work in agriculture," Santy said. "The kids that take a business class are probably going to end up marketing some kind of agricultural product at some point in their career."

DIVERSE OFFERINGS

Cooperative Resources International in Shawano seeks employees across a diverse spectrum. The business has several divisions specializing in dairy cattle genetics, herd improvement, and agricultural testing.

"We've got accountants, payroll personnel, accounts payable and receivable, and data processing, all within finance," said Ron Schmalz, CRI's vice president of human resources. "In our IT department we have program developers, software developers, computer specialists. We have a huge department that keeps our computers running in all our facilities."

Jobs extend into public relations, research and development, and human resources.

"We recruit from all universities ... For example, between the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, Oshkosh, and Stevens Point we find a lot of our people who work in finance, public relations, or human resources," Schmalz said.

He said there's still demand for workers for jobs working directly on the farm.

"As more generations are removed from the farm setting, they have less knowledge of it, and to find those individuals that like working with the animals or in that type of environment is getting a little tougher," Schmalz said.

Pulaski High School still offers education focused on jobs working directly on the farm.

"The old ag class ... was preparing you to be a farmer on the home farm, that has gone by the wayside," Santy said. "We have semesterized classes that address the pathways of the agricultural industry."

Some of paths lead to places jobs like beekeeper, researcher, water quality specialist, or forestry technician.

"The other big area is managers," he said. "People in agribusiness who understand agriculture and the way the whole system works together, but who also have people skills."

Those skills can be applied in managing workers, managing an ag-related building project, or managing money for an agricultural business. Demand for welders, large-animal veterinarians, cheese makers, and mechanics is also high.

Santy said agricultural educators continue to work on making students aware of available career opportunities outside of the stereotypical "sows, cows and plows" associated with agricultural education.

"There's a huge number of students who haven't heard the story of what agriculture is," he said. "And they're going to be a part of it."

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Valerie Dantoin-Adamski, a faculty member with a new Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems program, said it expects to graduate its first class of 15 students this spring.

Like other areas of agriculture, jobs in the sustainable segment span traditional field work to include management and marketing.

"The job list is pretty long. It's about half production agriculture where you are creating a new small business on the landscape yourself, or working for a small farmer," Dantoin-Adamski said. "That's the biggest growing segment in agriculture today, small farms under 50 acres."

She said other jobs in the field include working as a field representative for companies offering organic food products or working with companies developing organic or natural foods lines. It can also mean coordinating farm to school programs.

"We formed a sustainable local organic farmers cooperative, and just hired a part-time manager for that co-op," she said. "That's another ancillary job where it's the connector between the farmers and where we're going to sell."

— Nathan Phelps can be reached at nphelps@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @nathanphelpsPG or on Facebook at Nathan Phelps Press-Gazette

On the Net

• AgCareers.com

• Whyag.com

• Pulaski High School: pulaskischools.org/high/

• FarmMatch: farmmatch.com

•Northeast Wisconsin Technical College: nwtc.edu

•Cooperative Resources International: cri.crinet.com

Coming up

Every other week through June, we will explore manufacturing, skilled trades and professional careers in Wisconsin.

• October through December: Paper industry, metal fabrication, marine manufacturing, wood product manufacturing, food manufacturing, plastics manufacturing and machine/specialty manufacturing.

• January through March: Welding, construction trades, trucking, electrical/plumbing, agriculture and automotive.

• April through June: Engineering, information technology, sales and marketing, health care, finance/accounting, education and human resources.