Abstract
Previous studies on global food security have indicated that in order to sustain the global population by the year 2050, a significant increase in food production will be needed. Consequently, it is crucial that today’s students are educated to realize this increasing food demand. One of the problems is that currently too few students seem to be interested in pursuing studies in the fields of agriculture and related sciences. By exploring three research questions, this study assesses the extent to which high school students in each of the 67 counties in the U.S. state of Alabama are being exposed to agricultural-related science courses. For the purposes of this assessment, the high schools were grouped by zones—Northern, Central, Southern and the Black Belt. Relevant high school data, including courses offered, were compiled from Alabama’s Department of Education 2017 directory. Microsoft Excel and SPSS software were used to analyze the data. The findings of this study demonstrated that there are spatial differences in agriculture-related courses offered in high schools in Alabama’s Northern, Central and Southern regions. Future research should further investigate what percentage of high school students actually choose agriculture or related disciplines as their professional career paths after graduating from high school.
Highlights
Attracting the generation of farmers and agricultural professionals in the United States remains a great challenge in the agricultural sector
Two high schools (0.6%) reported courses related to three different concentrations within the agricultural fields; 52 high schools (16.8%) reported courses related to two different agricultural fields, and the remaining 256 high schools (82.6%) indicated one agricultural field
A visual inspection of this figure indicates that high schools with courses in agriculture-related fields are more concentrated in the North and South of Alabama
Summary
Attracting the generation of farmers and agricultural professionals in the United States remains a great challenge in the agricultural sector. U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is entrusted with the task of improving economic opportunities in the rural areas of the U.S, over 57,000 jobs are created in agriculture, environment and renewable natural resources every year in the U.S only 35,400 new graduates are available to fill these positions, leaving a huge shortfall of over 22,500 graduates annually (Purdue 2015). It has been widely recognized by federal and state governments, their education departments, and many national-level bodies that considerable efforts are needed to change the perceptions of high school students towards making agriculture their career choice.
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