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Agriculture, Food, and Sustainability - Explore A Career

          Sarah with squash
 Skills needed to succeed in the Agriculture, Food, and Sustainability field

This is a listing of skills that will supplement your college education. Develop them early!

Develop skills and knowledge

  • Have an innate respect for the land, what it provides, and the people who work it.
  • Develop excellent communication skills - oral and written
  • Develop basic knowledge and experience with a cross section of technical skills
  • Experience working on farms and with agricultural markets

 

Technical Skills
  •  Business management
  •  Soil and integrated crop management
  • Livestock and pasture management
  • Marketing

 Leadership Skills

  • Planning and organization
  • Marketing and promotion
  • Supervision
  • Community relations
  • Conflict management


Interpersonal Skills 

  • Logistics
  • Safety skills
  • Judgment and decision-making
  • Problem solving

Become an expert

  • Learn and understand how to best utilize natural forces in growing crops and raising animals.

  • Practice wearing rubber boot 12 hours per day.  Develop the advanced skills you will need. Just do it!

Operate Vehicles

  • Obtain a driver's license; get experience hauling and backing trailers
  • Have a drivers license and clean record; become eligible to drive Unity vans
 Obtain Certifications
  • Responder/CPR
  • FFA Membership

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Professional Association Links

 

 Career Advice 
  • Attend the Unity Career Fair - talk with the professionals in your field, conduct informational interviews

  • Talk with upperclassman - where did they volunteer, intern, and find employment?

  • Ask faculty, and CRC about Unity alumni who are employed in the Agriculture, Food, and Sustainability fields. Call alumni who are working in an area you want to work; introduce yourself, let them know you are looking for advice, internship, job

  • Attend area, state, regional, national sustainability/agriculture conferences

  • Read Journals and magazines related to Agriculture, Food, and Sustainability

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What types of positions can I work in?
 

Positions to look for during college to gain experience and skills:

  • Community Development Coordinators
  • Farmers
  • Farmland Preservation Coordinators
  • Food Writers and Journalists
  • Local Government Officers
  • Small Business Entrepreneurs 

 Volunteering even half a day a week for the summer will provide you with valuable experience. You may need to ask repeatedly before being taken on as a volunteer. 
 

Remember it's all about NETWORKING. If you don't network how is anybody to know who you are and what you have to offer? Volunteering is where you are given the chance to schmooze with the professionals, use it wisely. This is where a lot of people get their first jobs.

Definition of "NETWORKING"- Introducing yourself to, and getting to know, people who might be able to tell you about a job. "An estimated 80% of all jobs are filled by word of mouth even though they may be advertised." The Career Search Handbook"

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Develop a gift wish list

 

If anyone asks what you would like for your birthday, Christmas, Chanukah, graduation etc. suggest the following

  • MOFGA or other farm organization membership
  • Basic Gardening Tools
  • Rubber Boots
  • Work Pants

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Grad School Links

  • GradSchool.com 
    This site will allow you to search for schools that have Rehabilitation Therapy and Therapeutic Recreation related graduate programs


 

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