Ridding the agriculture industry of its stereotypes

There are some industries which are plagued by stereotypes and suffice to say, as the title of our article may have indicated, the agriculture industry is one of these.

We’re not going to go into the depths of listing all of the misconceptions which surround this industry – it’ll just add further unnecessary fuel to the fire. Instead, we’re going to concentrate on some of the most common myths, and pick out the untruths to paint a fairer picture.

Hopefully, by the end of the page, it can become clear to see that agriculture is certainly not an industry on its way out – it’s developing much more quickly than many of us realize and with that, there are more opportunities than ever before.

“It’s an industry which just isn’t able to grow”

This is arguably the most damaging to the industry and in short, you only have to view the career of Bennett Kireker to realize that this isn’t the case. The fact that this particular individual has been able to grow his agricultural machinery business to superb heights not only highlights his own success, but also of the farmers that his business targets. Let’s not forget that his company started out small, before eventually supplying machinery all over the country.

As well as the growth for companies being there for all to see, there is plenty of scope for employees as well. Generally, those that end up working in this industry will progress at a much faster pace, simply because internal promotions are so commonplace in the industry.

In other words, it appears to be bustling on all levels.

“The farming industry is dying”

Let’s take a look at a similar point in relation to the state of the industry. We’ve already established that once established farms can continuously expand – but what about the industry as a whole?

Well, the statistics suggest that the agriculture industry most certainly isn’t dying. In fact, you only have to tune into the Bureau of Labor Statistics to see this. They have suggested that 60% of agriculture jobs will be handed to college graduates over the next ten years, suggesting that the industry is improving and is actually starting to be seen as an extremely viable career for a lot of young people.

“Agriculture is just for farmers in the fields”

We’ll end with one of the most interesting myths surrounding this industry and it perhaps relates very well to the Bennett Kireker example we noted earlier.

One of the big stereotypes about the agriculture industry is that everyone has to be a farmer working in the fields. Now, this isn’t necessarily the case. The industry now has a much higher demand for specialisms, with verticals such as soil management and obviously business being very important.

Ultimately, if someone is interested in getting involved in the industry, they don’t have to be out on the fields. The fact that farming has become so heavily based on technology has opened up a lot of avenues; ranging from engineering to financials.