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Not Just Cows and Plows
Vocational-agricultural education in Connecticut races to keep pace with an industry evolving at warp speed
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BNH
6/1/2000
By: Fiona Phelan
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Where do you go to learn to fish and farm these days? Not in Connecticut, you say? Well, think again.
Agricultural education has been part of the state's educational offerings since 1955 and continues today. Considering that the state has very few working farms left, it's hard to perceive a need for agricultural education. However, the majority of the state's 19 agriculture science and technology education centers (they used to be called vocational agriculture centers) are undergoing multi-million dollar expansions
due to increased student enrollment and expanded curriculum offerings.
Today's definition of agriculture is not just farming.
Vocational agriculture education has expanded from farm animal care and plant care to include many businesses that did not exist when the state's vo-ag (as they're called) centers were built 20 or 30 years ago.
Today, agricultural education includes horticulture, plant and animal science, food science, forest management, nutrition, landscaping, agricultural mechanics, agri-business, biotechnology, the environment and aquaculture (raising fish and shellfish on an aqua farm).
According to a 1999 national study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Purdue University, agriculture generates some 22 million jobs in the U.S. - but most are not located on farms. In fact, the study notes, fewer than two million Americans are “actively engaged in farming.”
Additionally, the study predicts that there will be more jobs than employees to fill the projected 58,000 openings in agriculture-related fields.
Here in Connecticut, enrollment in the state's vo-ag programs has steadily increased over the past seven years. For the 1993-1994 school year there were 1,997 students participating in vocational agriculture programs. For the 1999-2000 school year, there are 2,552 students enrolled – the highest ever.
According to Milton S. Natusch, a consultant with the state Department of Education's Bureau of Career & Adult Education, enrollment is increasing because of improved recruiting techniques by the towns with vo-ag centers. Presentations are made to eighth-graders about the vo-ag programs available to them. Not all school districts have programs in their town, but are required to designate a school for their students to attend and must provide transportation to the vo-ag center.
“Every students has a chance to know that vocational agriculture education exists,” says Natusch. “The state encourages the towns to promote the program and present it as a “School Choice” option.
“The state has taken the initiative and done a better job about informing students and parents about the program and the fact that there are a lot of jobs that require the kind of skills to be gained through the vo-ag program,” he adds.
“The state is investing serious dollars into its vo-ag program,” notes Natusch. “The average cost of a new center is $6 million to $9 million.”
In New Haven, the Sound School is just finishing this school year with 240 students. In the fall, 360 students are expected to attend the 19-year-old former magnet school. Located on South Water Street, the Sound School is about to break ground on a $23.8 million expansion that will add nearly 80,000 square feet of building space to the existing four buildings.
According to Sound School Principal Steven Pynn, the new center will include science labs, solar aquatic greenhouses, fish production areas and boat-building facilities. The school curriculum currently includes aquaculture biology, aquaculture chemistry, boat construction and repair, sail training and seamanship, fisheries management, fish and shellfish hatchery science, marine biology and oceanography, commercial and recreational fishing, oystering and lobstering, seafood science and technology as well as the traditional high-school courses required for graduation.
“Our expansion is a direct reflection of student interest in this area which, at the moment, is extraordinarily high,” explains Pynn. “The whole aquatic environment is very attractive to young people and there are many opportunities in shellfishing.”
According to Pynn, 80 percent of Sound School graduates go on to college to further pursue their interest. Those who don't, he notes, are qualified to work in various entry-level positions in aquaculture fields because of extensive internship opportunities and work-experience requirements.
Students at the Sound School build fishing rods, lobster traps and boats. The school's facilities include the 55-foot schooner Quinnipiack, which functions as a floating classroom. In addition, students can take advantage of a nine-week shipbuilding research program in conjunction with Mystic Seaport and partnership programs at Southern Connecticut State University, Gateway Community College, the University of New Haven and Yale University.
Expansion is going on elsewhere in the state. Trumbull High School, which serves as the regional vocational-agricultural center for ten surrounding communities, is in the process of constructing a 36,000-square-foot facility at a cost of $7.3 million.
The barn-like structure is in addition to the existing farm (complete with pigs, cows, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens and llamas) and greenhouses at the school and will include a 5,000-square-foot greenhouse for exotic plants and flowers. One-third of the state-of-the-art facility will house biotechnology labs.
“Agriculture is no longer cows and plows,” says Trumbull vo-ag program administrator Dan Banks. “It's biotech, natural resources, food science. The program has really expanded and changed to meet the needs of today's business world. The program keeps getting better and more demanding every year.
“The number of students involved has increased and most of them go on to pursue the field further in college,” Banks adds.
Agriculture and its related fields are in fact big business in Connecticut. For instance, in 1998, Connecticut was the leader in New England for horticulture sales.
With 375 horticulture operations in the state, Connecticut ranks 16th nationally in sales, with total sales volume of more than $191 million. Nationwide, horticulture has become a $10 billion industry and the New England states combined (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut) account for four of all sales nationally.
According to a USDA census of the horticulture industry, the value of horticultural specialty crops increased dramatically from $4.8 billion in 1988 to $10.6 billion in 1998 - a 121-percent hike over just a decade.
In the coming year, four more of the state's vo-ag centers are expected to embark on construction projects. In Bridgeport, the Aquaculture School will add 34,000 square feet of additional space, bringing the school's total facility to more than 77,000 square feet. That project is expected to cost approximately $6.2 million. Similar projects will take place in Stamford, Suffield and Killingly.
According to David Wedge, manager of the state Department of Education's school facilities unit, his department received proposals for more than $1.5 billion in school building projects this past year (proposals for all schools, not just vo-ag schools).
“That's a tremendous amount of money for our schools,” Wedge notes. “Usually we receive proposal for between $500 and $600 million in school building projects.”
Wedge notes that deteriorating schools, increasing enrollment and outdated facilities are prompting the construction drive. The average comprehensive high school today costs about $60 million to build, he notes, and it's a five- to seven-year process from conception to groundbreaking.
In addition to the vocational agriculture projects about to break ground, construction is currently underway in Litchfield, Falls Village, Winsted, Storrs, as well as a recently completed facility in Woodbury.
AA recent survey of students graduating from the state's vo-ag centers in 1993 indicated that, by and large, students “are finding employment in their field and remaining on the job.”
Additionally, 68 percent of 1993 graduates attended a post-secondary education program, with 46 percent pursuing studies in agricultural or agriculture-related fields. Of the graduates responding, 63 percent describe their current employment as being in the agricultural field.
Occupations held by the graduates include: floral designer, farrier, veterinary technician, agronomist, landscaper, arborist, herdsman, dairy farmer, zoo keeper, equine manager, agricultural research assistant, food shipping supervisor, grounds care supervisor, agricultural equipment sales and service, and independent livestock dealer.
Connecticut's vo-ag program comes highly rated by the graduates responding to the survey. In the words of one: “I used all the information I learned in the vo-ag program my first year at college. I was a step ahead of my peers because of my knowledge of animals, parts of animals, basic medications, etc.” BNH
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