National Western Scholarship Trust supports the next generation of agricultural leaders
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LARAMIE, Wyo. — Bailey Fitzwater talks to cows for a living.
Well, not really. But that’s what she likes to tell people when they ask her about her agricultural communications degree.
Fitzwater grew up on a cow-calf ranch outside of Wheatland, Wyoming and participated in 4-H and Future Farmers of America, or FFA.
Fitzwater, a senior at the University of Wyoming, is a recipient of the National Western Scholarship Trust, a scholarship program offered by the National Western, which hosts the annual Stock Show in Denver.
She’s been around agriculture her entire life, but Fitzwater said a higher education in agriculture gives her the tools to make a difference in the industry.
“We don't really need to go to college [for ranching] because everything we need to know and could ever learn really is right there on the ranch. But when you're looking at going to college, you're looking at bettering your operations,” Fitzwater said.
“Seeing all these people that I know, my friends and good family, that are struggling in the industry right now, I wanted to be that voice to learn more about agriculture and help people understand about the industry that I love so much.”
Video: Carly Rose, Rocky Mountain PBS
The National Western Scholarship Trust gives more than $550,000 a year to 120 students studying agriculture-related fields at colleges in Colorado and Wyoming.
In order to qualify for the scholarship, students must have participated in the National Western Stock Show. Fitzwater showed a steer at the Stock Show’s Catch-A-Calf Contest.
“It's important for us to continue supporting agricultural education because our food has to continue to be produced in a very difficult climate,” said Paul Andrews, former president and CEO of the National Western. Andrews retired after this year’s Stock Show in January.
Farmers and ranchers make up a little more than 1% of the country’s workforce.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted overall employment of farmers and ranchers to decline by 2% over the next 10 years. For context, the average growth rate for all occupations is 4%.
As the small population that feeds the country becomes even smaller, jobs that support, advance and improve agricultural practices become even more important.
Agricultural positions that require a college degree, like food scientists or agriculture engineers, are growing at a faster rate than average.
“The kids that are coming up through agriculture education right now are seeing the latest technologies in how they can be better at managing water resources, better at managing land resources, and ultimately making our food products better than they have been in the past decade,” Andrews said. “I'm very encouraged about the students that we continue to support that are getting brighter every year in new technologies to impact agriculture.”
Donning a cowboy hat, boots, blue jeans and an engraved belt buckle, Harrison Falborn took notes while his animal science professor explained how to estimate the dressing percentage of the two hogs milling at his feet.
Growing up on a small ranch outside of Boulder, Falborn always wanted to be a cowboy. He’s got the look, and now he’s getting the degree to match.
Falborn is a freshman at Colorado State University, double majoring in agricultural education and livestock business management. He receives about $7,000 from the Scholarship Trust per year.
“A lot of kids in rural communities, we have trade schools, and that's a lot cheaper and you can make a lot more money immediately,” Falborn said.
The average total cost of tuition for a public, in-state, four-year university is about $39,000. For a two-year institution — the closest designation that the National Center for Education Statistics has for “trade school” — total tuition costs range from $8,000 for a public school to $39,000 for a private non-profit.
CSU is the only institution in Colorado that offers a four-year bachelor’s degree in agriculture, with about 1,500 students enrolled in its agricultural sciences college.
“For me, getting this degree, the biggest benefit is the fact that you don't see leaders in agriculture that don't have a degree, that haven't been to college, that haven't expanded their experiences. I really want to be involved in agriculture leadership and developing the new generation of agriculturalists.”
To Falborn, agriculture leadership looks like representing the production side of the industry in organizations like the Colorado Farm Bureau, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Colorado Beef Council, as well as supporting younger generations' interest in agriculture through FFA.
On average, Americans are at least three generations removed from agriculture. For both Fitzwater and Falborn, advancing the industry means using their education to help people who didn’t grow up around agriculture understand how it works.
“I think that agriculture education is something that everyone should experience because at the end of the day, we all eat the same food,” Falborn said. “The more everyone knows about how we're cooking, how we're eating, how we're producing, how we’re processing, the more people know about what we do and how we do it, the more transparent we can be, the better off everyone will be.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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