Agriculture: Job growth to boom over next five years
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Nearly 58,000 jobs will
open annually across the United States in occupations involving food,
agriculture, renewable natural resources and environment over the next
five years, according to an employment outlook led by Purdue University.
The report, released Monday (May 11), was produced by Purdue University's College of Agriculture with grant support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
The jobs reflect a need for a highly skilled and
trained workforce to support the food, agriculture and national
resources industries amid projections of a world population that is
expected to grow from 7 billion people today to 9 billion by 2050, noted
Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director.
That will create many opportunities for college graduates
in those fields, said Allan D. Goecker (pronounced GER’-ker), assistant
dean emeritus of Purdue's College of Agriculture and lead author of the
report "Employment
Opportunities for College Graduates in Food, Agriculture, Renewable
Natural Resources, and the Environment, United States, 2015–2020."
"These graduates are essential to address U.S.
and global priorities of food security, sustainable energy and
environmental quality," Goecker said.
The report projects that 46 percent of the
estimated 57,900 new job opportunities each year will be in management
and business. Twenty-seven percent will be in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM areas. Jobs in food and
biomaterials production will comprise 15 percent, and 12 percent of the
openings will be in education, communication and governmental services.
Details of the report are available on a website created by Purdue at https://www.purdue.edu/usda/employment. Some highlights:
* While most employers prefer to hire graduates
of food, agriculture, renewable natural resources and environment
programs, graduates from these programs only fill about 60 percent of
the expected annual openings. Even as enrollments in these programs
increase and the job market becomes somewhat more competitive, good
employment opportunities for the next five years are expected.
* Growth in job opportunities will be uneven.
Employers in some areas will struggle to find enough graduates to fill
jobs. In a few areas, employers will find an oversupply of job seekers.
* There should be a strong employment market for
e-commerce managers and marketing agents, ecosystem managers,
agriscience educators, crop advisers and pest control specialists.
* Job opportunities in STEM areas are expected to
grow, with the strongest markets for plant scientists, food scientists,
sustainable biomaterials specialists, water resources scientists and
engineers, precision agriculture specialists and veterinarians.
* Women make up more than half of the food,
agriculture, renewable natural resources and environment higher
education graduates in the U.S.
The report is the eighth in a series of five-year projections initiated by USDA in 1980.
Marcos Fernandez,
associate dean of Purdue Agriculture and director of its academic
programs, said this newest edition might be the most comprehensive of
all. He convened his counterparts from across the country during a joint
session of both land-grant and other colleges of agriculture directors
of academic programs during a meeting of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities in Washington, D.C., to analyze and discuss the data.
"Academic and non-academic leaders from
throughout the country - over 70 in all - reviewed a draft of the report
and extensively discussed the findings, trends and recommendations with
one another and the report's authors," he said.
Writer: Keith Robinson, 765-494-2722, robins89@purdue.edu
Sources: Allan D. Goecker, 765-463-1269, goecker@purdue.edu
Marcos Fernandez, 765-494-8472, mfernandez@purdue.eduAg Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
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