An Industry Response to Challenges in STEM and Agricultural Literacy

Abstract

Access to food is a basic necessity for all humanity, and the United Nations estimates there will be 9.7 billion people on the planet by 2050. This provides a unique challenge for the agricultural industry to address the growing food demand while global competitive forces struggle to balance the use of limited resources such as land and water. The United States Department of Agriculture projects 57,900 average job openings annually in the next 5 years for graduates in food, agriculture, renewable resources or the environment. As an industry, agricultural companies play a supporting role in providing the education necessary to create scientifically literate and informed communities regarding food and production agriculture. In an effort to do this, Dow AgroSciences created the Science Ambassadors program. The mission of this program is to empower employees to inspire their communities by promoting scientific literacy.