One P.O.'d Goat Roper (yep, it is a rant)

Yahoo had the audacity to post an article yesterday declaring that Agriculture degrees are the most useless.

Wait a minute - anyone in the world want to eat? Ag is much more than just 'running a farm'. Hmm - may want to check that just 'running a farm' data to see that many farms are multi-million dollar operations. Even the little mom/pop farms (like ours) require a much greater knowledge than just feeding cute little animals. The knowledge required of feeds (we have four types here that will kill specific species if they eat it, but they contain important ingredients for the species they are designed for - hmm, guess anyone would know that - NOT); environment (considerations of handling fertilizers safely, safe manure handling, working the land in such a manner that is keeps working and doesn't get 'burnt out' and maintaining places for wild animals to live); equipment safety (tractors, combines, balers, mowers, GPS systems equipment, using computers full advantages, etc.); money management (paychecks come at various times - you have to plan); and more is not something that everyone picks up overnight. Many farmers and ranchers go to college to further their knowledge and then return to the family farm to apply. It is considered a necessity by most. Ok, I will stop.

Facebook has a fan page - I studied agriculture and I have a job with a lot of links to articles. Not going to get too in depth here, but if you are interested - here are a few more links

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a few ag majors jobs excerpt from above:
Advertising
Commodity Group
Companion Animal Management
Education
Equine Management
Finance/Banking
Government/Regulatory
Graduate School in Animal Sciences
Human Medicine Research
Livestock and Poultry Genetics
Livestock Production and Management
Meat, Egg or Dairy food processing
Research
Sales of feed, equipment or pharmaceuticals
Sales of livestock genetics
Seed Sales
Veterinarian
Veterinary Assistant
Veterinary School

I agree with the statement - Yahoo - stop messing with all the goat ropers out there!

Sorry your vocation isn't getting more respect! You should send an letter to the editor.

LOL - I would, but in our small community it really wouldn't matter (a lot of ag around here - anyone who eats potatoes - good shot they come from here if not Idaho farms). Just irks me when people put down jobs that are anticipated to have 18% growth over the next 10 years.

Plus, dh is always looking to hire people and there aren't enough grads out there to fill the positions. Makes me wonder where the author actually got his data.

I passed the websites on to my student who is currently writing his reasearch paper over ranch life. I also read him your rant. Thanks for sharing!