Agriculture Industry Grows, Fuels Jobs
As spring shuffles in, recruiters may be observing some new openings in different lines of work. Few businesses are more dependent on the weather, however, than farming. Now is the time that farmers are able to say what their plans are for their land this year.
If you have been following the economy, you may have noticed that agriculture was a main profitable business in the United States last year. When you read statistics, it sometimes seems like agriculture is the primary reason that the economy didn’t totally tank. The broad agricultural industry generates a huge amount of specialized jobs in specialized agricultural technology, administration, and regulation in addition to the regular farm jobs that recruiters are not usually involved with.
Perhaps due in part to last year’s successes, it seems that it will be another big year for agriculture. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that U.S. farmers are planning to plant even bigger crops this year.
One crop that is growing in its popularity with planters is cotton. The USDA expects that there will be 15 percent more acres devoted to cotton this year, totaling 12.6 million acres. American Pima acreage is expected to total 252,500 acres, up 24 percent from 2010. The large state of Texas is devoting even more of its land to cotton. Texans expect an increase of 548,000 acres in planted cotton. Georgia, North Carolina, and Mississippi are also expanding their cotton plantings.
Although corn is not growing the same way that cotton is, it remains the biggest agricultural crop. Corn growers intend to plant 92.2 million acres of corn for all purposes in 2011, up 5 percent from last year and 7 percent higher than in 2009. If realized, this will be the second highest planted acreage in the United States since 1944, behind only the 93.5 million acres planted in 2007.
It appears that agriculture will continue to fuel a steady source of jobs in the years to come, especially as advancements in the field require further technological specialization. Compounding the specialization of the agricultural industry are new developments in “green technology,” which will likely further develop new jobs and professions.