An ag degree is not useless

Today, an article College Majors That Are Useless – Yahoo! Education on Yahoo news states that the #1 useless degree is agriculture.
The article states that because farms in Idaho are becoming more efficient, there is less need for farmers. The author, Terence Loose, does not share his sources and I don’t know his connection to citing Idaho when there are plenty more states with significant agriculture industries.
What should have been said was that because of agriculture becoming more efficient, there will be MORE jobs in agriculture. We are producing more food, to feed more people while using more, new technology. That means we need more ag marketers, traders, grocery supplies, logistic specialists, engineers, etc. Additionally, 96% of the world’s population lives outside of the U.S. and American agriculture is at the forefront of supplying the world with it’s need for grains, protein and food in general.
Every land grant university that I know of is continually increasing numbers in there agriculture departments. These students are the future leaders of our food supply. Pretty sure I want to eat in the future and so does the author of this article. Maybe Mr. Loose needs an education that agriculture is more than plows and cows.

*Update* Although I take news from the Huffington Post with a grain of salt, Allen Levine, Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and Director of the Minnesota Obesity Center, University of Minnesota wrote an excellent rebuttal to Yahoo!’s article. Read it here.

31 thoughts on “An ag degree is not useless

  1. Hi Kelsey,
    I typically don't comment on blogs but I gotta say you're on the right track. I was bothered by Mr. Loose's comments about careers in agriculture.
    I graduated with a degree in Agricultural Engineering and have used my degree for urban planning and water design. Mr. Loose seems to think that if doesn't have dirt or animals involved, then an ag graduate is out of luck.
    If only he knew that many of the technologies and sciences are a result of agriculture findings.
    Anyhow, thanks for your post and if you find out his email, please post it so we can send him some information.

  2. Kelsey, I agree with you 100% on this subject. I believe that with farmers becoming more efficient, then there will be an increase in agriculture jobs. I am working on a Masters in International Agriculture and understand the background of agriculture from the inside and out. Agriculture is not just about cows and plows, there is much more that goes into it that Mr. Loose doesnt understand. People like Mr. Loose dont take agriculture seriously, they dont know that there are many sciences behind it. We as agriculturalist need to teach people like him about agriculture and make them appreciate it. Just like you had stated, I think Mr. Loose needs some education in agriculture before he has any room to say its a useless degree.

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