In the News - March 2008
National Agriculture Day in Arkansas will celebrate agriculture's importance
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Once upon a time, farmers didn't have college
educations. But times have changed.
"Many of the careers in the food and fiber industry are very heavily
science-based and it's an application of science knowledge that's required to be
successful," says Dr. Greg Weidemann, dean and associate vice president for
academic programs in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life
Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
"I think the urban perception is that kids who are studying agriculture are
going back to the family farm. Frankly, the number of kids in our program who do
that is very small. They're going on to other professions that support the
agriculture industry in its broadest sense. It goes anywhere from extension
agents to working in a biotechnology lab, and they're at the corporate level or
academia and every level in between."
National Agriculture Day is celebrated March 20 - and every year on the first
day of spring - to mark the importance of American agriculture and of the people
who produce food, fiber, shelter and energy for the entire nation.
The Agriculture Council of America maintains that often in the nation's
schools, students are exposed to agriculture only if they take vo-tech classes.
One of the purposes of Agriculture Day is to build awareness so that young
people might consider career opportunities in agriculture and related sciences.
"Each American farmer feeds more than 144 people ... a dramatic increase from
25 people in the 1960s," according to the Council's Agriculture Day web site,
www.agday.org. "Quite simply, American
agriculture is doing more - and doing it better. As the world population soars,
there is an even greater demand for the food and fiber produced in the United
States."
Dr. Bobby Coats, an extension agricultural policy analyst with the University
of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, says National Agriculture Day is about
recognizing past accomplishments of the Arkansas and American agriculture
sector, celebrating the farmer as a provider of safe, abundant and affordable
products and the farm and rural communities for their role in maintaining a
strong national economy. It's also about the future contributions of the
agriculture sector and its diverse and rural communities, he says.
"I believe that the future is especially bright for Arkansas' agricultural
and rural communities," says Coats. "They will be composed of producers,
suppliers, processors, marketers and an array of other complimentary businesses,
all supporting the production of crops, livestock, aquaculture and alternative
energy and biofuels."
U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that Arkansas' latest agricultural
cash receipts were more than $6 billion in 2006.
"Arkansas' agricultural and rural sector will be a huge beneficiary of
today's growing global economy," says Coats. "Given the current and expected
continuing strong global demand for commodities, I would not at all be surprised
to see 2008 agricultural cash receipts come in at $8 billion or more.
"In country after country around the world, agricultural commodities are in
high demand due to financially prospering populations. I predict that Arkansas
and the Mississippi River Valley Delta states will dramatically grow their
presence as a world supplier of agricultural products."
A survey completed two years ago showed that 85 percent of the graduates of
the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences had secured jobs
or positions in graduate or professional schools before graduation.
"I think that's an indication of sort of the opportunities that are there,
that kids are going through an educational program where there is a high demand
at the end," says Weidemann.
The bright forecast for agriculture in Arkansas will likely continue to be a
draw for the state's brightest young people, says Weidemann, although some fear
that there won't be enough graduates to fill many of the career needs in that
field as Baby Boomers continue to retire.
For more information about agriculture and agribusiness, visit the
extension's Web site, www.uaex.edu, or contact your county extension agent. The
Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.
March 21, 2008
By Kimberly Dishongh
For the Cooperative Extension Service
Media Contact: Lamar James
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207
ljames@uaex.edu
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