Published March 21, 2010
By Kevin McCullen, Tri-City Herald Staff Writer
PASCO — Students in Columbia Basin College’s growing agriculture program are in a position many of their peers may envy.
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| Columbia Basin College instructor Kerrin Molton, third from left, joins some of horticulture students in the school’s greenhouse on the Pasco campus checking their project to grown start plants from a plant cutting. From left, the students are: Kyle Clifford, 20, of Pasco, Katie Westfall, 18, of Finley, and Kinbri Snipes, 19, of Pasco. Photo by Bob Brawdy of the Tri-City Herald |
Many of the students in CBC’s 3-year-old program are attending the Pasco school through scholarships funded by agricultural businesses and have had paid internships with those companies.
Their coursework in agricultural and physical sciences, math, business and general education fulfills requirements that allow them to transfer to Washington State University in Pullman or the Tri-Cities, Oregon State University at the Eastern Oregon University campus in La Grande or the University of Idaho to complete their undergraduate degree.
And when they graduate from a four-year university, they likely will have jobs awaiting them.
“They told me that when I get through school I’d have the opportunity to work for them,” said Brock Gibbons of Eltopia, who interned with AgriNorthwest and recently transferred to the La Grande campus to finish studies for a degree in crop sciences.
Gibbons is part of the first class of CBC ag students expected to graduate from a four-year university in spring 2011. He is one of 41 students in the new pipeline of undergraduates who are or were involved with the CBC ag program, which was designed with input on course offerings and scholarship support from local agricultural companies.
To date, more than $350,000 has been contributed by agricultural businesses for scholarships for CBC ag students.
“My feeling was we needed to get this aligned with industry so we knew what they wanted us to teach, and that they needed to provide scholarships and internships to support our students and offer them work experience,” said Lisa Toomey, special projects director for the CBC president’s office.
Industry leaders say the need is growing. In the increasingly technical and sophisticated 21st century world of agriculture and its interwoven demands for efficiency, productivity and sustainability, there is growing demand for educated and farm-savvy young professionals.
They are needed to fill jobs in agribusiness, engineering, horticulture, microbiology, enology and viticulture, agri-economics, soil and crop sciences, animal sciences and skilled vocational trades.
“I tell people the career opportunities in agriculture are brighter than they have been in several decades. There are many opportunities now for students coming out of agriculture programs, and many of those opportunities are well-paying jobs,” said Dan Bernardo, dean of WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences.
The average age of principal farm operators in Washington is creeping upward as well — going from an average age of 55.4 years in 2002 to 57 years in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. Nationwide, more than one-fourth are 65 or older, according to the agency.
“We need trained young people to come to the farm,” said Chep Gauntt of Gauntt Farms in Kennewick. He’s sponsored scholarships for two CBC students and donated labor and equipment for harvest at the college’s research plots.
At AgriNorthwest, the corporate staff includes a range of expertise. And everyone, from scientists to economists, has a basic understanding of agriculture, said Tom Mackay, general manager.
“The best people we find are those who have scientific and business skills and also have some experience in agriculture,” Mackay said. “You can’t go from never digging a ditch or experiencing agriculture in the field to becoming management material.
“There’s a need in agriculture for well-educated, dynamic individuals and many of the university programs throughout the country are suffering because of a lack of students. So if we can help with scholarships and internships, it benefits the students and potentially us,” he said.
Toomey, with help from CBC’s industry partners, has aggressively recruited students from area high schools since before the college offered its first ag class in fall 2007.
There now are eight students who have transferred to four-year schools, and 18 are in their first year. The goal is to have 20 students entering the program each year, Toomey said.
“I wanted to farm, but I didn’t realize how big agriculture is and all the opportunities it offers,” said Gibbons, who grew up on a farm. “The industry is changing so much, it’s becoming technical and more efficient.”
Emily Tobin, a first-year student from Connell, didn’t come from a farm background. She became intrigued with the CBC program after learning of the career options.
The introduction to ag and food systems course, one of the required classes for ag students, “opened my eyes to the vast technology farmers use,” said Tobin, who wants to become a research agronomist and will spend this summer working for Monsanto.
Katie Westfall, a first-year student from Finley, has had horses throughout her life and been active in 4-H. The program attracted her because of its offerings and the cost per quarter: CBC estimates current tuition and fees for a typical resident student taking 15 credits or more is just over $1,000, according to the CBC website.
In comparison, resident tuition for spring 2010 for an undergraduate taking 10 to 18 credits at WSU Pullman is about $3,800, according to the WSU website.
Still, some friends didn’t understand why Westfall wanted to pursue a career in agriculture.
“They think it’s still cows and plows,” she said. “It’s not. It’s high-tech, it’s science, it’s business and way more.”
Some students weren’t raised on farms. Brandon Archer of Kennewick, a junior at WSU, wants to pursue a career in nursery and greenhouse management.
His coursework at CBC prepared him for WSU, but the real-world experience he got while working for AgriNorthwest for two summers was invaluable, he said.
“They moved us around a lot. I worked in a grain elevator and a soils lab, and one summer I was part of a road crew,” Archer said. “It really teaches you a lot about working as a team.”
The McGregor Co., a multifaceted agricultural company based in Colfax, is sponsoring two CBC students. Leslie Hammer, communications, training and recruiting coordinator, said the company wants students who are educated and serious about an agricultural career.
“The population of kids who have farming backgrounds is shrinking. So we look for who’s passionate about agriculture and who wants to learn, regardless of their background,” Hammer said.
CBC offers a two-year degree with a focus in agricultural science that allows students to transfer to a four-year university. It also provides a two-year associate of applied science degree in agriculture and industrial equipment to train students to become technicians for agricultural and construction equipment.
Last fall, CBC began offering a four-year bachelor of applied science degree, and students in the agriculture program can apply to complete their undergraduate degree at CBC.
CBC currently has transfer arrangements with WSU Pullman and WSU Tri-Cities. WSU Tri-Cities offers a degree in horticulture with an enology and viticulture option, a program that several current CBC students are interested in, said Kerrin Molton, CBC agriculture instructor.
Students also can pursue a crop and soil science major at OSU at the La Grande campus and a range of majors at Idaho.
Class sizes at CBC are small, which has helped students develop a closeness, Westfall said. CBC students also have formed a student chapter of the National Marketing Agri-Marketing Association, the only two-year college in the country to participate.
“We think our program is unique because of our industry partnerships. Most of our students feel they are mentored through the internships, and because we are small there is a lot of camaraderie,” Molton said. “When we designed the program, we wanted it to be this way.”
For more information about the CBC ag program, go to www.columbiabas.edu/agriculture.
Additional news stories can be accessed online at the Tri-City Herald.