Ag deans see promising future

Over the years, the agriculture industry has gone from draft horses and a moldboard plow to 425 horsepower four-wheel drive tractors with global positioning and auto-steering. Land grant universities have long played an important role in research, Extension and training. Consequently, the deans of the colleges of agriculture at those universities have a handle on the trends for the agricultural industry.

Many of them see a future full of promise for the industry that simply used to raise food, fiber and feed. Add to that list "fuel" and many, many other issues and opportunities abound, according to these experts.

Tom Payne, dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at University of Missouri sees this leading to a change in learning institutions.

"What is being educated needs to change to match how agriculture is changing," Payne said.

Although commodity production of wheat, corn, and soybeans will always be needed, production agriculture will provide new opportunities. These commodity crops will be grown for more than feed, food, and fuel.

"Consequently students need to be informed about that type of change and we need to educate students in that regard," Payne said. "Can we turn plants into factories to produce products other than what we have used them for in the past? Of course we know we can."

Plants can be used to make vaccines, pharmaceuticals and polymers for plastics. Animals can be used in human health and preventative medicine.

Wendy Wintersteen, dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University, agrees.

The bioeconomy is the number one new trend in agriculture, according to Wintersteen. The move is toward a future of making fuel or plastics, but also having a strong livestock industry.

"It requires some re-engineering of the landscape to be able to put useful nutrients back into the land," she said.

Genomics is another important tool to see more production with both livestock and crops. She said it is important for the federal government to continually support the use of genomes with continual funding for the application and translation of it.

At Texas A&M, they are also working to prepare for many of those same issues, according to Associate Dean Joe Townsend.

"Globalization, bio-fuels, food security, environmental quality and technology are rapidly transforming the entire food, fiber and bio-products industry," Townsend said. "Booming fields such as biochemistry, genetics and, now, bioterrorism protection have a home in agriculture. Graduates must be prepared to enter this constantly evolving and increasingly competitive business landscape."

Practicality has always been a trademark of the applied sciences. To Frank Galey, dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Wyoming, the trend is toward programs that affect people in their everyday lives.

"We have lots of diverse interests here. Besides traditional majors, the rising demand is in programs dealing with situations that ranchers find themselves in, these days," Galey said. "A lot of more successful students are coming out of agriculture economics and ag business."

The ag business connection finds its way from the halls of ivy to fields of open range.

"The quote I got from a constituent once was: 'I know how to make a big fat steer but I don't know how to sell him.' People are dealing in a global business environment. Students are realizing that and demand is going in that direction," Galey said.

Land grant universities' agricultural colleges are also thinking beyond the farm to train students. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, John Owens said one of the newest programs is professional golf management, which has developed into a popular program, at that.

"It's accredited by the PGA of America. It has 142 students in it. We did it because we already had a strong turf science program in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture," said Owens, vice president and Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Harlan Vice Chancellor. "There are only 19 of these accredited programs in the country. We have a strong school of natural resources and embedded in it are fisheries and wildlife biology. Grassland ecology and management classes are growing."

Changing students

Along with the changes in what is being taught, so have there been changes in the type of students colleges of agriculture are seeing.

In the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University, the last two incoming freshman classes have been composed of more females than males. About 40 percent of the incoming freshman are community college transfers and, surprising to many in Kansas, the top supplier for students in the College of Agriculture is Johnson County, home of Kansas City and surrounding suburbs.

"A lot of people are surprised at that, even though there's quite a bit of agriculture in Johnson County," said Fred Cholick, dean of the K-State College of Agriculture. "A lot of those students don't have an ag background, but rather they view the industry as a 'food system,' everything from natural resources to production ag." Cholick explained that these new students see agriculture as about more than just production agriculture. There are new food science, food safety and pre-veterinary majors, but a major growth area Cholick is seeing, similar to that at the University of Nebraska, is in the turf sciences curriculum.

Oklahoma has seen the same trend. "More students are entering our program from suburban and non-traditional rural settings," said Oklahoma State University Dean of Agriculture Bob Whitson. "The largest growth of students entering our program has been from the suburban interface areas that surround larger metropolitan areas, such as Oklahoma City and Tulsa."

Equine science is emerging as a student growth area for Colorado State University. "We have quite a few equine science majors out there who find their avenue of staying close to that part of the industry is to become an equine veterinarian. It's really different than the standard large animal vet," said Marc Johnson, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at CSU. "We have a lot of people dreaming of being equine veterinarians."

Students are also changing in Missouri.

"If you take a generation or two ago you would have found that a good percentage of the young people who came to the University of Missouri and particularly our College of Agriculture, were from farms and small communities," said Payne.

Many of those student returned to the farm but today fewer than 10 percent of the students go back to the farm.

"Our students are very interested in other areas associated with the College of Agriculture," Payne said.

The top three majors in the College of Agriculture at the University of Missouri are animal sciences, hotel and restaurant management, and bio-chemistry. In the last decade hotel and restaurant management has become very popular and is a rapidly growing program.

One of the keys to ensuring growth in agriculture is getting students interested in the industry before they get to college. "We are really pleased to see there are four high schools in Colorado that have opened new vo-ag programs," Johnson said. "High school ag programs are coming back. They're interested in adding horticulture and agribusiness to their curricular options."

The strong presence of 4-H and FFA in the state of Oklahoma, has also influenced the draw of students to the university.

"Due to our presence of 4-H and FFA programs in every county in the state, we continue to draw significant percentages of available students from rural areas," Whitson said. "As an example of our efforts, a scholarship program sponsored by Chesapeake Energy, entitled the "Future Agricultural Teaching Academy," was formed which comprises a three-way partnership with the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Career Tech and the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association to promote enrollment in our agricultural education programs."

Programs like these have led to more specialized needs within the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources or CASNR.

"A new department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management has also recently been formed that has attracted new students across the state who have interests in wildlife, rangeland ecology and management, fisheries and forestry," Whitson said. "Although the availability of traditional agricultural students in western Oklahoma has declined, we have seen an increase in available students in the northeastern portion of the state, resulting in strong overall growth in both our traditional and new emerging programs involving programs of interest to students in the urban, sub-urban and traditional rural sectors of Oklahoma."

Research

Constant contact with the producers and communities helps the educators keep atop the important issues and help with spreading the knowledge around, according to OSU's Bob Whitson.

"County educators communicate this grass root knowledge to regional and state level Land Grant University researchers," Whitson said. "This grass roots contact and communication system keeps our university in touch with trends."

Graduate students at OSU also help conduct research, thus helping the university keep current with rapidly changing issues in agriculture, Whitson said.

Wintersteen said Iowa State is focusing on many of the same past strengths such as animal and plant genetics and efficient and effective production.

Advances with new uses in the bioeconomy is important, too. Iowa State researchers are focusing on cellulosic ethanol and other sources for biofuels.

Owens sees science research as important part of UNL's future.

"We also have to strike a balance within the molecular life sciences. While those areas of science are considered basic science and don't necessarily show immediate benefits, that type of scientific knowledge is needed if a university is going to be a truly major player and competitor for federal and private grant money," Owens said.

In Wyoming, research focuses more on rangeland issues. "In rangeland ecology, the main focus in research is in restoration and reclamation; reclaiming drought-stricken land is a big deal for us," said Galey. "We have a booming energy industry in Wyoming and that industry needs good research-based information on how to restore the land they've trashed. Our research is into getting the energy out of the ground without destroying the land in the first place.

"We also have a research and service focus on diseases important to both wildlife and livestock. The interface between the two is great, and so they share things like brucellosis, plague and tularemia. We are working on research into those vectors," he said.

Economy

Success for agriculture goes hand in hand with the success of the rural economy.

"In ag economics, we are looking at rural community viability. One way to keep people on the land is to keep jobs in the nearby towns," said Wyoming's Galey.

Kansas State University's Cholick agrees.

"How do we develop the leaders in our communities?" Cholick asked. "Research and Extension will have a part to play in developing that sense of entrepreneurship.

"You know, sitting on a wagon and staking out a claim on 160 acres way back then, you had to be an entrepreneur," Cholick said. "I think we've lost a little bit of that and I think we need to rekindle what we can to help the next generation."

He sees entrepreneurship as a key.

"Everyone has their own definition, but we want to emphasize that it's the ability to see and seek out opportunities while taking calculated risks," Cholick said. "It's not just starting their own business, but existing throughout the whole system." He added that today's students have many choices available after they complete their undergraduate degrees. They can go on to graduate school or choose from several job offers, negotiating salaries and benefits.

"It's a tremendous sellers market for graduates across the curriculum," he said.

Technology

Technology has played a key role in how students are trained at Oklahoma State University. "The blackboard is still there, when needed, but more and more faculty can bring in up-to-date research findings via the World Wide Web and the development of PowerPoint presentations that allow the use of photos and video clips, neat text, etc., to illustrate their points," Whitson said. The curricula is also enhanced by incorporating the real world in their teachings.

While technology plays an important role in the changing agriculture industry, Cholick said that educators must not solely focus on it. "We have to think wide spectrum," he said. "We need to develop life-long learners in the future. We don't know half of the jobs these students will have after they graduate. It's important that they have critical thinking, communication and teamwork skills." Those jobs will be a part of the "bioeconomy," Cholick explained. That includes biofuels, biotechnology, and more.

Whatever changes in agriculture come about, there is one thing that is certain.

"The opportunities for agriculture are unbelievable, now and in the future," said Wintersteen.

Written by Doug Rich, Larry Dreiling, Jennifer Latzke, Kylene Orebaugh, Jennifer Bremer and Holly Martin. The editorial staff can be reached at 1-800-452-7171 or by e-mail at journal@hpj.com.

12/31/07
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Date: 12/27/07

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