Marketing to Ag Professionals? Your Target Audience is Growing.

If your job involves marketing to those in the agricultural industry, you’re going to have more people to market to in the next five years. That’s according to experts that tell us that job growth in the agricultural sector is on the rise.

In his article, Agriculture: Job Growth to Boom over the Next Five Years, Jeff Daniels reports that there is significant demand for college graduates with a degree in agricultural programs.

An average of nearly 60,000 high-skilled Ag and related job openings are expected annually in the United States over the next five years, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Purdue University.

Mike Gaul, career services director at Iowa State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, says people are beginning to realize that agricultural is a good choice for a career.

“They realize that this sector isn’t our traditional what we joke ‘cows, plows and sows’ industry anymore,” Gaul said. “It’s incredibly diverse.”

The demand in agriculture and life science-related fields will be strongest for plant scientists, water-resource scientists and engineers, farm animal veterinarians, and precision Ag and pest control specialists, among other positions.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said this demand may surprise people who tend to look at agriculture through the prism of production agriculture but that so much more is involved.

“It’s not just production agriculture now but this is an expanding, entrepreneurial, creative, opportunistic aspect of our economy that I think will continue,” Vilsack said.

The article states that a recent study shows that between 2015 and 2020 an average 26,700 annual jobs openings also will be available in management and business within the food, Ag and related segments.