USDA NIFA Emerging Workforce Training Grant

Emerging Agriculture Technology Training for Northwest Ohio

The desperate need for technically skilled employees in agriculture was recently highlighted in a Farm Journal/ AgWeb guest editorial by former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns who said, “The agriculture industry in America is stronger than ever but it faces a serious dilemma…the reality is the U.S. simply doesn’t have enough skilled workers to continue to push the industry forward.  Technological developments in the agriculture sector have created heightened expectations not just for crop yield but workers as well, which when mixed with the lack of STEM graduates in the U.S. has created an uphill battle” (Johanns, 2019).  Rhodes State College’s goal with this grant is to catalyze the expansion of the College’s existing Agriculture Business certificate to include the creation of an Agriculture Technology program (Ag Tech) to develop a technology-competent and data-savvy workforce whose skills align to fill the needs of farmers and other agricultural employers in northwest Ohio.  Ag Tech will be the first of its kind in Rhodes State’s ten-county service region.  Additionally Rhodes, in collaboration with agricultural partners, will create an Agriculture Design Laboratory (ADL), which will be available to both students and the Northwest Ohio agriculture community for collaboration related to the use of agricultural technology.  Rhodes will create the Center for Agricultural Technology Training (CATT), which will serve a dual role as the location for Ag Tech courses and the ADL.   

This site is intended for project information dissemination on the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant. For more information on this grant project, please contact Lori Dyer, Project Director, at Dyer.l@rhodesstate.edu.

Project Deliverables

1. Agriculture Technology Associate Degree: The project will design and implement an associate degree in Agriculture Technology to develop a technology-competent and data-savvy workforce whose skills align to fill the needs of farmers and other agricultural employers in northwest Ohio.
2. Agriculture Design Laboratory (ADL): The project will create an ADL which will be available to both students and the Northwest Ohio agriculture community for collaboration related to the use of agricultural technology.

The following materials have been developed through funding of the grant: 

Employer Testimonials
Student Testimonial