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National FFA Organization, Discovery Education and AgCareers.com Join Forces to Introduce Students to Careers in Agriculture
In today's world, students are always looking for ways to get a jumpstart on the competition, and employers are looking for employees who are a cut above the rest. It's for this reason that the National FFA Organization, Discovery Education and AgCareers.com have partnered to create AgExplorer.
AgExplorer.com is a new career exploration website that is a robust, comprehensive career resource to help students explore the broad range of careers in agriculture.
"We're excited to introduce this transformational resource that will allow students to explore the 235 unique careers in agriculture," said Joshua Bledsoe, chief operating officer of the National FFA Organization. "FFA is uniquely positioned to provide the foundation of the talent pipeline for the agricultural industry. In addition to engaging our students and supporting our teachers, AgExplorer.com will help us tell our story and the story of agriculture to the world. Together, we can all strengthen the future of agriculture."
In the next five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the industry of agriculture will have more than 60,000 job openings annually, and an estimated 22,500 of those openings will not have highly skilled graduates to fill them. In 2015, AgCareers.com hosted nearly 78,000 job postings in the U.S. alone. AgExplorer is the tool students can use to explore this industry and see what career is the best fit for them.
AgExplorer features 235 unduplicated agricultural career profiles that include a career description, typical responsibilities, job outlook, education requirements, average salary and links to a college and university database and jobs currently available.
The National FFA Organization's strategic career success partner, AgCareers.com, worked with industry leaders to identify 235 unduplicated careers in agriculture and developed profiles for each career. In addition, AgCareers.com maintains a database of all two- and four-year colleges and universities that offers some type of agricultural degree. This database is then linked to each career profile. Additionally, the salary data provided for each role is industry validated through the AgCareers.com Compensation Benchmark Review™ tool and will be continually monitored as part of the partnership with AgCareers.com.
“I am constantly searching for ways to better engage my students and expose them to diverse career pathways. AgExplorer gives me the tools to connect my students to real opportunities in the agricultural industry,” said Patti Grammens, a teacher at Lakeside Middle School in Georgia’s Forsyth County Schools. “AgExplorer will give all teachers, even those without agricultural experience, the resources to get students excited about careers they may have otherwise not considered. I am looking forward to using this program in my classroom this year.”
AgExplorer also features nine videos that highlight how each of the eight agricultural pathways and agricultural education are part of the global solutions to feeding the world. It also offers the Career Finder, an interactive assessment designed to help students match careers with their interests.
“Discovery Education is proud to partner with the National FFA Organization to offer classrooms nationwide an array of dynamic, digital resources that help connect real-world STEM applications to a variety of potential agricultural career paths,” said Lori McFarling, senior vice president of Discovery Education. “We are dedicated to preparing students to be college and career ready, and AgExplorer will help achieve this mission by connecting students’ interests and academic strengths to a broad array of promising careers in today’s rapidly growing agriculture industry.”
For more information visit AgExplorer.com or view a video here.
