Date of Award

5-1977

Degree Type

Report

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Agricultural Systems Technology and Education

Committee Chair(s)

Gilbert A. Long

Committee

Gilbert A. Long

Abstract

As the farmers of Utah and the nation become more highly trained and more efficient in adapting new technological knowledge in their farming enterprises, farms increase in size and the number of workers needed to produce food for our state and nation decreases. A concurrent yet opposite change occurs in those businesses which perform services for farmers or which market, process, and distribute the farmer's product. Farmers are demanding more skilled services while consumers are demanding that the farms' products receive more processing and distribution services which must be performed off the farm. We, thus, have a growing network of enterprises to perform these services for the farmer. The term, off-farm agricultural business, has become generally accepted as the designation for these companies .

Many of the workers in these off-farm agricultural businesses need knowledge and skill in agriculture for success in their jobs . For example, the feed, grain, and seed industry requires various levels of competency of agricultural knowledge and skill. This study should point out to Utah vocational agricultural educators whether or not they should begin a more concerted effort to teach the competencies needed by the employees of the feed, grain, and seed industry. From the observations of the writer the needed levels of competency of the feed, grain, and seed industry have not been an important part of most vocational agriculture curricula in Utah. It is a major purpose of this study to provide job titles and manpower demand information to enable a study to be performed of the competencies necessary for employment in the feed, grain, and seed industry.

Share

COinS