While the likely hood of farmers becoming an an endangered species if very low. It certainly is becoming a less attractive career. The simple face remains that someone has to grow the food we all eat. But that didn’t stop job hunting website CareerCast from declaring the profession one of the biggest “disappearing jobs in America.”
The website’s list of “most endangered jobs” was calculated by expected decline through 2022. This takes into account technology increases in food production as well as the growing imports of food from outside the US. Fewer farms are able to produce more foodstuffs than ever before. Per USDA, the number of U.S. farms declined by 400,000 between 1982 and 2012, and CareerCast estimates an additional 19% decline by 2022. Farmers join other careers on the list that are being negatively affected by technological and economic trends.
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The decades-long decline in farming around the United States is expected to continue in the years to come. Farming careers are projected to decrease by 19% by 2022. With an annual median salary of $69,300. While the profession scores relatively high in “work environment,” the website penalized it for moderate stress and a negative hiring outlook.
There is a silver lining however. Time magazine recently declared farming “the best job of the 21st Century.” And according to a recent study from USDA and Purdue University, when looking at the entire agriculture industry, there is a shortage of 22,500 ag grads compared with the industry’s needs.
