Let’s be honest, having a major in agriculture is not that common, with very few people interested in farming or plants. However, there are still people that find agriculture interesting. The question is, how will you know the major is right for you? Chances are, the answer is pretty clear. Here are 10 signs that you are (or should be) an agriculture major.
If anyone were to take a peek into your closet, it would include flannels, old FFA items, 4-H pieces and obviously a farm brand shirt. Also, a few pairs of boot cut pants, cowboy boots, a nice belt with a big buckle and a dirty cap.
At some point, you’re probably taking a Plant Science class. This will require you to grow plants outside of class. Taking a look in your room, there are plants EVERYWHERE. I’m sure your roommate absolutely appreciates not being able to open or look out the window.
From having classes at the farm at least once week, you come back and track soil on the carpet. If you have a roommate that compulsively cleans, you don’t have to worry too much about having to clean it up! At least try to keep it in one area and wipe it up once in a while.
Just like anyone else, you have lecture classes. But your lab classes are a little different than your non-agriculture major friends. You have lab at the school farm. It tends to be a foreign concept to a lot of people, so be ready for them to ask you what it is like to give pregnancy checks to the cows, transplant your plants into your garden, and work in the meats lab, especially when your friend is an animal rights activist.
Many of your classes require outside assignments like observing a high school classroom, volunteering at the local farm festival, or attending a club meeting. You and your professor are probably working together on the farm in the swine unit at 5:00 am or attending an all day judging competition at another college. The instruction of a class goes further beyond the walls of your lecture hall.
Those that experienced FFA in high school know that every agriculture teacher is crazy! For non-agriculture people, this sounds very insulting and rude, but it is actually a joke we make and it is true. Just because professors are at the college level doesn’t exclude them from the stereotype of the crazy agriculture teacher.
If you’re ever on the road and happen to pass a farm, you will naturally start naming the breeds of the animals there or the plants and trees you see. It becomes interesting when you say it out loud and your friends look at you while laughing. They think you’re crazy, but they still love you.
The concept of growing plants to other people may not seem exciting, but to you, it is. You spend so much time taking care of your little plant, you’ve grown an attachment to it. Even when you’re so annoyed by it because it keeps dying on you and secretly want to let it go, you know you can’t. It sounds weird, but we get excited when we notice a change in growth because being able to watch something grow from a seed to actual production is amazing. I’m sure your friends think you’re even more crazy when you barge in their room and tell them all about how it grew an inch.
When people find out that you’re an agriculture major they automatically assume farming. Agriculture is so much more than farming. You try to explain what you will do with your degree and they’re still a little confused. For example, here’s an actual conversation I had with someone:
“So what will you do with an Agriculture Education major?”
“After getting my Bachelor’s in Agriculture, I will do the credential program to receive my Master’s in my option of Education to become a high school agriculture teacher.”
“Oh cool. So you’ll teach about farming?”
“Possibly, but I could be doing any subject in agriculture. I’d like to do Floriculture, but there is no specification here, so most likely Horticulture or Animal Science.”
“Cool. Have fun with farming…”
This is why I want to be an agriculture teacher, so I can teach about what agriculture really is.
You love having a major in agriculture. You don’t mind getting your hands dirty, or explaining fifty times a day why you love it or why you chose it as a major. Agriculture is your life, and you’re not embarrassed to say how much you love it!
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