Close to 60,000 jobs are set to open up in agriculture, food and natural resource sectors each year for the next five years, according to a report from Purdue University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The American agriculture industry has a problem though; there's not enough grads to fill them. The report projects about two open jobs for every qualified graduate. That's left the USDA, private industry and grant universities scrambling to try and bridge the gap.
CSU is Colorado's land grant university, institutions originally established in the 1800s to teach agriculture, science and engineering to eager students. Kevin Pond, head of CSU's department of animal science, says while enrollment in his department is steadily rising, the vast number of vacant jobs in agricultural and food sectors is partly due to perception. Young people don't think of it as a growing field, or an area with sunny job prospects, even though it's common for animal science graduates to come out with multiple job offers.