So you want to go to an ag college or university. Or you want your children or grandchildren to go. What are your choices?
Starting in February, you’ll be able to find out. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council is launching a new, searchable guide to postsecondary ag education at its website, www.cahrc-crrha.ca.
It’s about time.
Agriculture has a proud record of outstanding achievement by farmers with little formal education.
Are those days gone? No. But it’s going to get tougher to succeed without spending more years in the classroom, in large part because the skills that tomorrow’s farmers need are skills that today’s farmers haven’t got, at least not in sufficient measure. Is Dad going to mentor the kids on computerized robotics, or is Mom going to teach them about running a corporation, or how to set up joint ventures?
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Besides, time away at school fills two extra, essential functions. It shows young people all the opportunities in front of them, helping them figure out whether farming is really what they want to do. Second, it opens their eyes to the non-farming world, i. e. the world made up of the people who will buy what tomorrow’s farmers will sell.
It’s also crucial to do a good job picking which college or university to attend. No longer is that the same thing as the closest one. Instead, it’s the one that fosters the right skills, and the right perspectives.
It’s incredible there hasn’t been any one place where you can go to see and compare all your education alternatives. Actually, it’s appalling, considering agriculture must remain at the forefront of so many disciplines, from genetics and environmental science to business management.
The CAHRC’s Danielle Vinette gets two thumbs up for ensuring the website service is finally going to happen. It’s just a start, though.
The foundation of agriculture is its people. Until now, it would have seemed gross exaggeration to say that a human resources council could be as important to agriculture’s future as plant breeders or ag engineers. Today, we see it as a potential global advantage. Lets get to the head of the class. CG
