Ag Graduate--Will Travel

H. O. Kunkel, dean, College of Agriculture, Texas A&M University, College Station.

The world is the job market for agriculture graduates. For decades now, many graduates of colleges of agriculture have looked toward employment in foreign settings as a beginning for their postcollege careers. The internationalization of agriculture has taken an increasing share of agricultural graduates abroad at some time in their careers.

Graduates of U.S. universities in the agricultural sciences reside in all parts of the world. Many, of course, are citizens of other countries who came to the United States for all or part of their university education. But a substantial number, too, are U.S. citizens. Some are on extended tours and some are but frequent business travelers to foreign sites. The 1,000 or more who apply annually for agricultural assignments in the Peace Corps illustrate the continuing attractiveness of a foreign assignment for a substantial number of agricultural graduates.

For all, the experience is enriching. Consequently, more colleges of agriculture across the United States are positioning themselves to provide an educational base for a global world of work.

Jerry Boley's agricultural education led to an interest in medicine; after medical school he may go into family practice in a rural area.

Agricultural Colleges in International Arena

Largely in collaboration with U.S. foreign assistance programs, colleges of agriculture began in the 1950's to develop international agricultural programs to complement the traditional functions of academic instruction, research, and extension. These programs extended the contributions of universities to the development of human resources, institutions, and agriculture of developing countries. They represented an effort to address the threat of global malnutrition and hunger, a potential now recognized as chronic poverty as well as a lack of technological development.

Through the years, U.S. land-grant universities have sent hundreds of faculty and staff members to engage in training and institution building. Nine institutions in India, universities in Bangladesh, the Philippines, West, North and East Africa, the Dominican Republic and a host of other countries are the legacies of involvement of U.S. colleges of agriculture. The evolving legacy is also a growing corps of U.S. agricultural graduates who function effectively as world citizens.

Title X11 of the 1975 Foreign Assistance Act provided for an expanded and institutionalized long-term commitment of universities in development. Strengthening grants, memoranda of understanding between the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID) and universities, and the development of a joint professional career system to allow faculty members to work for AID and AID professionals to work on a university campus have been means by which universities built continuing interest and capability for international agriculture.

Florida grapefruit awaits export from Miami.

Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP). CRSP, supported by AID, extends agricultural research and graduate study. CRSP's are long-term research programs for collaboration of U.S. universities, AID, USDA, and other research institutions with institutions it developing countries. The CRSP program is multifaceted and may be aimed at any aspect of the food chain including production, nutrition, and cultural and economic elements.

International Agricultural Research Centers (IARC's). Developing, too, are informal as well as formal collaborations among university scientists and IARC's and cooperative efforts between U.S. university scientists and scientists in developing countries. Networks among agricultural scientists on global basis and long-term linkages between U.S. universities and foreign institutions are now surfacing. The flow of agricultural science and technology has become increasingly a two-way flow.

With this commitment to international issues, on-campus educational and training programs and courses to prepare international and U.S. students for work in world agriculture have expanded, a trend that was encouraged through the Title XII Strengthening Grants. Some institutions have established graduate and undergraduate majors or collateral emphases in international agriculture.

Colleges of agriculture are increasingly integrating the international dimension into their academic and research programs. So, substantial educational opportunities exist for agricultural students who are willing to travel internationally in their careers.

Multinational Agribusiness and Industry Opportunities

The more than $30 billion agricultural export sales each year require an extraordinary number of highly trained food and agriculture professionals. The U.S. private sector agribusiness and industry, national and multinational companies is a dominant factor in agricultural careers abroad.

A major U.S. corporate firm, for example, has built and operates an irrigated mechanized farm in the Sudan. It instigated a joint venture to establish a date processing company to process and export invert dates from Tunisia to North America. Another company has been a catalyst for international food conferences. Major grain firms have established plant breeding programs in South America. Such corporations develop a marketing and supply infrastructure.

Often U.S. professionals are not posted permanently in these countries; they are administrative and technical specialists who help manage a project while training their foreign counterparts.

As developing countries attain certain levels of technological status, a U.S. or multinational company may seek out management and investment opportunities, thereby implementing a transfer of agricultural technology and providing employment for agricultural professionals.

Multinational Organizations.

Large grain and cotton handlers, commodity trade firms, and food firms are examples of multinational organizations with activities and holdings in both developed and developing countries. They have research, sales, and management components with representatives posted in recipient countries. Agricultural economists find employment as economic analysts and forecasters in these international settings.