Published March 29, 2010
By the Tri-City Herald Editorial Board
Columbia Basin College’s 3-year-old agriculture program has exceeded expectations in its short history.
It’s already established itself as an innovative program for agriculture education in the Northwest. Most students receive scholarships from Mid-Columbia ag businesses and also are offered paid internships by those companies.
By linking the students and their course work with industry partners, the program is creating a solid future for scholars and agriculture in our region.
The two-year degree program readies students to become technicians in the industry.
Students can also opt to transfer to four-year programs at universities around the Northwest.
Either way, there’s a good chance the Mid-Columbia companies funding CBC’s program will have jobs waiting when students complete their studies.
The ag program has taken giant leaps in three years. But it’s not the first ag curriculum to be offered at CBC.
The original program was shut down by a previous administration, which claimed a lack of interest to justify its decision.
That didn’t sit well with local ag businesses. They said they needed an available pool of trained ag professionals to manage farms and agribusinesses, work in sales and marketing and many other facets of the state’s $38 billion ag industry.
The ag industry persevered and the program was reborn in bigger and better ways.
CBC has been aggressive in raising scholarship dollars and recruiting students. It has found receptive audiences on both ends of that spectrum.
The college has opened the eyes of students to the possibilities of agriculture beyond working the land. It’s a far more sophisticated industry than many might believe.
Farming and technology have long been fast friends. From automated equipment to water conservation to product development to high-tech processing plants, technology plays a huge role in the ag industry.
Technological innovations are continually breeding new efficiencies, and those efficiencies bring profits.
With the average age of farmers at 57, the need is there for a new crop of skilled individuals to take on the work and move it forward with newly minted skills using the latest technologies.
CBC has provided a great platform to meet the needs of students and the ag industry.
The ag program at CBC is giving Mid-Columbia students who are already active on family farms a chance to further their studies while keeping their hands in the family business.
CBC officials took some serious grief for giving up on the ag program years back. And rightly so. Agriculture is big business in the Mid-Columbia, and its continued success depends on a ready supply of skilled workers.
The work by CBC President Rich Cummins and the administration on the new ag program has been stellar and built a foundation to take it far into the future.
We can’t wait to see what the first crop of graduates will bring to our region’s agribusiness community.
And we appreciate the ag industry’s willingness to forgive the school’s misguided move away from this important part of our economy and help forge a solution that has made CBC even stronger.
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