More Students Enrolling in Ag Colleges

More Students Enrolling in Ag Colleges

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

It is a good time to be a college student majoring in an ag program. Nationwide, enrollment in bachelor's degree programs focusing on ag has increased nearly 28 percent since 2004, according to the USDA Food and Ag Education Information System.

University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Interim Dean Dr. John Foltz confirms they have had the increase in students the college’s seven departments.

Foltz: “Student enrollment looks quite good. Over the last four years, enrollment in our college is up about 20 percent.

Dr. Foltz shares that students graduating have had positive results in finding jobs.

Foltz: “Demand for graduates in those areas continues to be very solid. Agriculture in my opinion is making a bit of a comeback as the pipeline empties out a little bit with people that are retiring. We are trying to fill that pipeline with graduates. A lot of our graduates have multiple offers that they are looking at even though the general economy is still struggling to come back a little bit. Agriculture over the past couple of years has been very strong and that translates into students being interested in our areas and enrollment is strong.

In the Pacific Northwest, all three of the land grant schools have seen enrollment increases. In addition to the University of Idaho enjoying increases in student enrollment; Oregon State University has seen a 29 percent increase from 2004 and Washington State University has seen an 25 percent increase.