North Harford High School will be getting an agriculture science magnet program, preparing students for the increasingly-sophisticated farming business.
An ad visory committee made up of educators,school officials and farmers went before the Board of Education Monday to outline the program, which would have separate branches for natural resources management, plant sciences, animal production and equine (horse) care and breeding.
The conception most people have of agriculture is no longer relevant to the sophisticated and specialized industry that modern farming has become, said Billy Boniface, County Council president-elect and chairman of the Maryland Young Farmers? Advisory Board.
“We do have problems with trying to bring new people … who choose agriculture as a career opportunity, because we have the stigma that traditional agriculture is the only area,” Boniface said.
Promoting agriculture at a high school level will help bring more students into the industry, which a study by the USDA and Perdue University estimates will offer 52,000 annual job openings through 2010, said County Agriculture Coordinator John Sullivan.
“Over 50 percent of the new employment opportunities in agriculture are not sitting on the tractor, not plowing the fields,” Sullivan said. “We?re not talking about the stereotypical agriculture; we?re talking about science.”
Rather than the career-based focus taken by many vocational agricultural programs, the magnet program would focus intensively on the science behind the practices, said Director of Secondary Schools David Volrath.
Partnerships with local agribusinesses will provide opportunities for internships and on-site learning, while partnerships with the USDA and University of Maryland?s College of Agriculture will provide grants and resources, Volrath said.
“The University of Maryland has a huge agriculture school, but they?re having problems recruiting,” he said. “So they?re looking for a feeder school.”
