Factors influencing career choices of ethnic minorities in agriculture

NACTA Journal, Sep 2003 by Jones, Wash A, Larke, Alvin Jr

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe factors that are related to African American and Hispanic graduates' decisions to choose (or not to choose) a career in agriculture or a related field prior to and/or after college. When respondents enrolled in their first agriculture-related course did not have a major effect on the probability that they would select an agriculture-related career. This suggests that the college experience can have a positive effect on students' career choice. Having people of color to encourage respondents to consider an agriculture-related career increased respondents' likelihood of pursuing an agriculture-related career. Having actual or perceived limited job opportunities in agriculture led respondents to choose careers other than agriculture and related fields.

With this knowledge, college personnel should take a more active role in the process of students' career choices. This can be done through educating students more about career opportunities (the teaching and advising process), better mentoring and enhanced interaction with leaders in the career field.

Introduction

Five major challenges face the U.S. agricultural industry in the next decade: (1) maintaining an agricultural system that is highly competitive in the global economy; (2) balancing agricultural production and the environment; (3) providing a safe and secure food supply for all citizens; (4) maintaining a healthy, well rounded population; and (5) increasing economic opportunities and improving the quality of life of all Americans (Agriculture Fact Book, 1998).

The expanding world population is increasing the demand for food and fiber; however, increasing productivity in the highly efficient U.S. agricultural sector is expected to meet domestic and export requirements easily with fewer but larger farms (U.S. Department of Labor, 1996). Agricultural institutions must play a vital role in the training of talented young men and women if the United States is to maintain its leading role in agriculture (Zoldoske, 1996). Agriculture is the United States' largest employer, with more than 22 million people employed in some phase from growing food and fiber to selling agricultural products at the retail level (American Farm Bureau, 1998). But, the demand for graduates, particularly minority individuals, in this field continues to exceed supply. Demographic trends indicate that minority populations are increasing; therefore, more minority students must be recruited into agriculture careers in order to sustain the agricultural industry for the future and to help ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in the global economy (Agriculture Fact Book, 1998; Mitchell, 1993).

Declining minority enrollment in undergraduate and graduate programs in recent years compounds the challenge of increasing enrollment in agriculture-related fields (Gwynn and Thompson, 1990). To reverse the trend wherein fewer individuals, particularly minorities, are pursuing agriculture-related careers and to dispel the myths about the field, educational leaders must understand the motivational factors and rewards that lure people to a particular career (Zoldoske, 1996).

To sustain agriculture at its current status, recruitment of outstanding individuals must be enhanced. To enhance recruitment, more effective recruitment strategies must be implemented. To develop effective recruitment strategies, it is necessary to research students' decision-making processes and their images of agriculture (Lucas, 1993).

In a qualitative study of 20 undergraduate students in the Midwest, Fisher and Griggs (1994) concluded that career development profiles of Whites tend to be influenced by objective factors (socioeconomic status, intelligence quotient, family occupational status) while the profiles of minorities tend to be influenced more by subjective indicators (personal efficacy, educational aspirations, perception of opportunity structure, support and influence of significant others). But, in an earlier study of 36 purposefully selected departments of agricultural education in the United States (included 1862, 1890, land grant and non-land grant institutions), Bowen et al. (1991) found that nothing different or special was being done in most of the departments for recruitment and/or retention of undergraduate or graduate students from diverse populations. Also, they found that universities that emphasized recruitment of diverse populations tended to be in states with highly diverse populations.

Mitchell (1993) suggested that minority students often decide to select agriculture as a career at a later stage in their education or lives, and rather than choosing agriculture as a major in their college freshman year, they often transfer into the discipline. This sometimes causes minority individuals to have to undergo a critical period of adjustment wherein they must become acclimated to or learn the basics of the field while their classmates from the majority population may have been acclimated to the field all of their lives. This puts minority students at a disadvantage academically and increases the challenge of getting more minorities involved in agriculture-related careers. Because of their potential disadvantaged status, these individuals often choose to pursue careers for which they are more prepared or with which they are more familiar. Mitchell states further that to continue to increase minority student enrollment in agriculture at an earlier stage, the need exists to know what factors influence minority students to declare a major in agriculture.