Farm Internships

As the economy loses blue collar and white collar jobs, one bright spot in the employment outlook appears to be so-called green collar jobs. What exactly are green collar jobs? Vice President Joe Biden described them this way: They provide products and services that use renewable energy sources, reduce pollution and conserve energy and natural resources. By that definition…that’s farming. Solar energy to grow, windpower to pump water and grind flour, irrigation systems to make more efficient use of the water.

 Well between the concept that farming is green, the fact that we appear to be entering a greener era in terms of our environmental philosophy and the observation by many economists that agriculture is very strong, college students seem to have heard the message.

 A new trend has emerged this year…farm internships. Kim Severson recently wrote about this in the New York Times. She said 1,400 farms sought interns this year, almost triple the number two years ago.

 Here’s Celia Gould, Director of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture: We’ve always had a number of students who’ve been interested in internships at the Department of Ag and we do have a few of those positions available and we did see an increased number this year, that’s good news for those of us in agriculture that there are a number of students that are more interested in agriculture as a career.”

Students seeking these internships come from a variety of degree programs and are seeking internships at organic and sustainable farms.