Hand in hand, meeting the demand

Job prospects today are as promising as ever for college graduates in the fields of food, agriculture, renewable natural resources and the environment. Each year, in fact, nearly 58,000 openings await those with such degrees.

Most employers hiring in these fields prefer candidates with relevant expertise, according to a report on 2015-2020 employment opportunities by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Purdue University. And yet, on average, the annual pool of U.S. graduates who fit the bill numbers only 35,400.

Put simply: The supply of experts in these areas falls far short of demand.

The 1890 Center of Excellence to Motivate and Educate for Achievement based at N.C. A&T State University aims to close that gap – and, equally important, create a more diverse, better-prepared workforce – by recruiting, retaining and graduating more minority students for careers in food- and agriculture-related disciplines.

Funded by a $1.6 million grant from NIFA’s 1890 Centers of Excellence Program, the groundbreaking virtual center launched July 1 in the university’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. It serves all 19 of the 1890 land-grant universities and is led by representatives from seven: N.C. A&T, Florida A&M University, Lincoln University, Tuskegee University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Virginia State University.

“While we at A&T lead, this is a team effort. It is taking our partners hand in hand and collectively lifting the caliber of the minority students who are being trained to be the next generation of STEM leaders in a diversified workforce,” said Mohamed Ahmedna, Ph.D., dean of the CAES.

“There is a huge gap in skills in the market. And when you look at minorities, the gap is even larger. That makes this a lot more urgent. We see our strength in the collective actions that we take and how fast and how impactful we are in terms of achieving our objectives.”

The MEA Center of Excellence focuses on four primary objectives:

• Recruit, retain, mentor and graduate young people from underrepresented groups for careers in food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences.
• Provide workforce-development experiences for minority students to smooth their path from high school to college programs and careers.
• Increase student engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
• Provide students from grade school through college with experiential learning opportunities related to soft skills, research skills, international engagement, conference attendance, leadership training and technology skill development.

 The heart of the matter

Dr. Antoine J. Alston, associate dean of academic studies

Antoine Alston, Ph.D., the college’s associate dean for academic studies and a professor of agricultural education, says the center’s work is nothing short of critical to the nation’s security and well-being.

“As agriculture goes, so goes our country. If you look at nothing else, mankind has to have a steady food supply and a healthy environment to survive,” Alston said. “And as a nation, it’s important that we have a diverse workforce that reflects the population we serve. There are so many health disparities in the African American community that are tied back to agriculture and a healthy environment.”

Alston, a member of the task force that puts out the UDSA jobs report, is quick to point out that the agriculture industry grew steadily despite dire economic downturns brought on by the 2008 recession and, now, the COVID-19 pandemic. Graduates with expertise in food, agriculture and environmental sciences have more than 200 career areas from which to choose. Available jobs include scientists, educators and advisors working with plants, animals and water resources, as well as specialists in sustainable land systems, renewable energy and supply chain operations.

“Food doesn’t just appear on the shelves at Food Lion. People need to understand where it comes from and how it is produced,” Alston said. “It is important that we produce African American scientists who can make an impact in the world. We cannot produce them if we don’t recruit them. We can’t recruit them unless we promote awareness of the industry and its importance.”

Misty Blue-Terry, Ph.D.

Misty Blue-Terry, Ph.D., co-director of the MEA Center and the 4-H STEM specialist with Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T, has devoted her career to working in underserved communities to promote agricultural awareness and expand the industry’s high school-to-college pipeline.

“Young people from underrepresented groups may see this as an extremely viable career opportunity if we can present it in a way that appeals to them,” she said. “Although we know that farming is a very high-tech business now, I think in their minds it’s still tractors and field work.”

Dispelling these notions is critical to increasing minority representation in the industry, she believes. Blue-Terry and her counterpart at the center, Paula Faulkner, Ph.D., share a strong commitment to inclusion and diversity.

“Diversity in the entire workforce, not just agriculture, is very important,” Blue-Terry said. “Minorities and women bring a diversity of thoughts to the table. When you are trying to develop for a changing nation, you need people who represent minority communities in all businesses.”

Paula Faulkner, Ph.D

Faulkner, a professor of agricultural education who played a key role in writing the grant proposal for the MEA Center, has traveled the world to work with underserved populations in agricultural sciences and education, including women farmers and those with disabilities. Rarely does she get the opportunity to work on a project alongside a minority professional like herself.

“I am almost always the only African American female when doing this work,” Faulkner said. “And being the only one, it just encourages me more to try to reach out and give the younger generation the opportunities to do what I do.”

A similar desire fuels Blue-Terry’s passion. When asked to join the center’s leadership team, she didn’t think twice before accepting. “To be able to impact the lives of young people – to help someone make a decision about a career – is the absolute most exciting thing to me,” she said. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into this type of work, but the impact it has on the lives of the participants is worth every bit of it.”

The fruit of diversity is innovation, Alston said. And innovation, in agriculture or any other business, fuels the bottom line.

“Our nation is No. 1 in agriculture innovation in the world. But this innovation won’t continue if we don’t invest in the next generation and our future. It is important that we understand that and have mechanisms such as the MEA Center to ensure that.”

Strength in numbers

The MEA Center of Excellence provides the first virtual space of its kind for educators and researchers across the entire 1890 land-grant university system to collaborate and to nurture the innovation needed to create a more diverse, better-prepared agricultural workforce.

The platform, through which the center’s partners now can share best practices, will continue to be expanded in the months ahead. And the leadership team intends to flex the partnership’s collective muscle to pursue additional resources. In fact, the team already is working on its next grant proposal.

Mohamed Ahmedna, Ph.D.

“The sharing of best practices across these communities is what makes us strong. We learn from each other and don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” Dean Ahmedna said. “We have collective power in terms of partnering with others on a grant of a larger scale than any single institution can do. Leveraging those connections and resources is an important factor. It’s teamwork versus individual work.”

The center’s partners couldn’t be more pleased, including Jurgen G. Schwarz, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

“I think it is imperative that we work together. As individual universities, we are too small to take on a large project like this and survive in this competitive world,” Schwarz said.

“We recognize that we have different expertise, and by working together from the get-go and developing proposals together, we can learn from each other and collectively do a better job of recruiting and retaining students and giving them the skills they need to be successful in the workplace.”

The center already has funded 16 projects, from 4-H and STEM outreach in high school to internships, mentoring and advising programs, and leadership and workplace skills training in college.

Lincoln University in Missouri, for example, hosts 4-H Youth Futures, a program that guides underserved youth on their college journey from preparation to graduation.

Adrian Hendricks, Ph.D., 4-H and youth development state specialist with Lincoln University Cooperative Extension, believes the MEA Center will do more than simply increase diversity in the agricultural workforce. Ultimately, he says, it will improve the lives of the students and the communities from which they come.

“The truth is, the people on the receiving end of work like this, their lives are going to change and their opportunities are going to change. Their families, their livelihoods, their legacies are going to be impacted by what we are doing here,” Hendricks said.

“That is really an inspiring place for all educators to launch into. We get to see how this changes communities and our country.”