Instead of being a sleepy place during spring break, Lincoln Land Community College (LLCC) in Springfield was abuzz with hundreds of college agriculture students from across the nation this year.
About 460 students and teachers participated in the four-day 2024 Professional Agricultural Students (PAS) conference, March 11-14, which included tours of central Illinois farms and ag businesses, competitions, leadership training and a busy career fair.
“These activities align with the group’s goal of uniting education and industry through agricultural career development,” said Bill Harmon, an agriculture professor at the host college.
Among those competing was Alex Sidener, one of LLCC’s own, and its Agriculture Club president. Dressed in a suit ready for a mock interview with an agriculture machinery and equipment company, he also competed on a college bowl quiz team and in an agronomy event. Like many students here, Sidener doesn’t have an agricultural background. His parents are entrepreneurs with his dad in construction and his mom in the daycare business.
Not coming from a farming background is common for ag students today.
“There are fewer and fewer farmers today, but PAS is growing,” said Sarah Holt of Idaho, the outgoing national vice president of media and communications and newly-elected national PAS president. “It’s because students from all walks of life are participating, and they are all needed to fill agriculture-related jobs today.”
Sarah Holt
While Holt didn’t have an ag background when she started PAS, it helped catapult her into an internship with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association working in public policy in Washington, D.C. While production agriculture wouldn’t be a good fit for her, lobbying for food and ag issues is, she said.
The conference’s theme of Cultivating Character is a nod to President Abraham Lincoln’s strong character and leadership, Holt said. “Our students will be industry-ready and prepared to enter the workforce,” she said.
Sidener’s experiences with PAS and working as assistant farm manager on the college’s 50 acres of farmland are preparing him for the career in precision agriculture he seeks. In addition to research, the college’s farm focused on fertilizer, plant population and piloting a drone for aerial applications. Sidener is testing an animal repellent to control deer on the campus crops.
Wilson Welch, who grew up in a subdivision in Okawville, is a Kaskaskia College sophomore in Centralia. Agriculture wasn’t on his radar, but everything changed for him when he worked on a farm during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wilson Welch
“I gained a new appreciation of agriculture and the true hard work. I felt I accomplished something,” he said of finishing a farm task.
Welch joined FFA as a junior in high school and started considering ag careers. His choice is sales. He sees himself selling seed, equipment and eventually crop insurance.
His ability to think on his feet was proven at the conference when a team member dropped out of the dairy competition, and they asked him to step in. He did, and it went well.
Welch also made friends quickly at the career fair, which included employers from animal health, ag banking and farm suppliers. “I’ve always been interested in the Illinois Farm Bureau,” he said of the career displays he wanted to check out.