Agriculture and the Undergraduate (1992) / Chapter Skim
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4 The Challenges for Professional Education in Agriculture: A Corporate Vantage Point
4 The Challenges for Professional Education in Agriculture: A Corporate Vantage Point
Pages 41-50
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From page 41... ...
Agricultures interests, like society~s interests in agriculture, are no longer primarily in the public and political domains, as they were when the landgrant movement started. Few if any other sectors of the U.S.
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From page 42... ...
By international standards, for example, in comparison with Europe or Asia, our rural areas are under less pressure from population or other competing uses for the most productive acreage. The United States continues to lead the world in the development of knowledge and the diffusion of the technologies and knowhow that are used in agriculture.
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From page 43... ...
We are likely to see more of our agricultural exports be valueadded products made at home from commodities grown here and to see less export of the raw commodities themselves. Increasing concerns about the safety of foods and better understanding of the link between food characteristics and nutrition will likely result in stronger linkages between production practices, crop and livestock genotypes, food processing, and marketing.
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From page 44... ...
In the United States, people cling to notions of rural pastoralism and simplicity about what is in fact a highly sophisticated system for food production and distribution. These notions are perpetrated and embellished by advertising and political campaigns and, more insidiously, by a naive (at best)
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From page 45... ...
At the same time, they are acquiring skills and experiences that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The challenge is to define how the professional educational experience in agriculture in the coming decades will lead to graduates who have a strong substantive knowledge base that underpins agriculture biology, chemistry, mathematics, sociology, economicsthat is every bit as rigorous and delivered with every bit of the excitement of professional courses in other areas, such as engineering, business, law, and medicine.
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From page 46... ...
My experience running intern programs with undergraduates, and even some high school seniors, in both industry and the university is that carefully chosen students can fit into and learn an immense amount from surprisingly challenging roles in the real world. The National Science Foundationts Undergraduate Research Participation program of the 1 960s is another example of a very simple but effective model for students headed for advanced degrees.
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From page 47... ...
Diversity is a particularly difficult issue for those of us in agriculture. Quite apart from the legal and moral obligations that companies must meet in their hiring practices, our experience shows that a company with a rich diversity In cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender terms is a more appealing place to work and yields a more productive, creative work force.
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From page 48... ...
Department of Agricultures Agriculture In the Classroom program and Project Food, Land, and People, a nonprofit, interdisciplinary supplementary education program emphasizing agriculture and conservation. However, it is just as important to engage the state agencies that govern syllabuses and our colleagues who design curricula for training teachers to infuse agricultural topics and hands-on agricultural experience with plants, domesticated animals, forests, food, and the environment into the learning experiences of future primary and secondary school teachers.
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From page 49... ...
They can offer continuing education opportunities for teachers that are linked to the last year of teacher training programs in local or regional colleges. They can offer sabbaticals for their employees; specifically, this will allow company staff to work in places where education of undergraduates in agriculture is a priority, thereby giving professors and students exposure to industry and people In industry exposure to the academic environment where future employees are being educated.
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From page 50... ...
AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE cultural backgrounds. Chronicle of Higher Education, February 6, 1991, p.
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