Jobs Plentiful for Ag Sciences, Natural Resources Grads

A U.S. Department of Agriculture report paints a rosy employment picture for college graduates in agricultural sciences and natural resources over the next five years. And that dovetails nicely with evolving educational offerings in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, according to J. Marcos Fernandez, associate dean for undergraduate education in the college.

The USDA report estimates that between 2005 and 2010, more than 52,000 job openings will be available each year for graduates in food, agriculture and natural resources degree programs, but U.S. universities will turn out only about 49,300 graduates annually to fill those jobs.

About 32,000 of those graduates will earn agricultural science or natural resources degrees, while about 17,000 will come from allied educational programs, such as biological sciences, engineering and business.

"Several societal trends are driving the job market in these fields," says Fernandez. "Among them are consumer preferences for safe, healthy and convenient foods; desires for an economically and environmentally sustainable food system; and concerns for biosecurity and protecting our food and fiber system from agroterrorism, invasive species and diseases."

The report forecasts the greatest number of unfilled job openings in management and business occupations, such as technical sales representative, food broker, forest product salesperson, market analyst, landscape manager and international business specialist.

Strong opportunities also will exist in scientific and engineering fields, such as precision agriculture technology, forest science, veterinary medicine, biomaterials engineering, food quality assurance, nanotechnology, nutraceuticals development and environmental science.

"The fact is, we're on the cutting edge of many technologies," says Fernandez. "Our programs are science based, but one of our strengths is that we are able to translate that research and apply it to real problems in the field. Some of the scientific and technical advances that take place in medical and biological fields are led by agricultural scientists, and many people aren’t aware of that."