Careers

Employment prospects for farmers, ranchers, and production managers are expected to decline over the next seven years, with notable exceptions in organic farming, horticulture, and aquiculture. The overall outlook for careers in agriculture and food science is brighter—job growth in these areas is expected to keep pace with the average of other occupations in the United States.

Spend some time evaluating the different kinds of jobs available to us in the agriculture industry, and something interesting starts to emerge. Almost as if there were two different covers on the same book, there appears to be two different genre’s to exist in, if you work in the agriculture industry. First, you have the stereotypical farm work that anyone can see. Tractors driving through the fields, someone bailing hay, a farmer working on equipment, another hauling manure - all the kinds of jobs that get the day to day dirty work done.

Then, there is the other side of the book - jobs that keep people traveling all the time, working in cities, holding meetings in board rooms, attending industry events to connect with others. When considering or reevaluating a career in ag we have to ask the questions, “What side is right for me? How do I choose?”

Nope, I don’t mean that someone has physically placed a hot iron in a conspicuous place in order to lay claim. What I do mean is that you may very well have branded yourself regarding your career choices. Generations of managers from just about any industry (especially agriculture) have pigeon holed - and been pigeon holed because of degree, or experience of their career early on. Today, I’ll take a break from the normal conversation of career options - and talk about something much more important. Developing your personal brand.