Community College Ag Instructor

Teaches AAS-degree and certificate courses in agriculture, agronomy, ag mechanics, precision ag, ag business, or animal science at a regional community college. Often the only ag instructor on campus — designs curriculum, runs the college's teaching farm or greenhouse, coordinates internships with local growers and ag-input retailers, advises the Postsecondary Ag Students (PAS) chapter, recruits at FFA events, and writes Perkins grant reports. Many also run an evening short-course on pesticide applicator licensing or QuickBooks for farms.

College of Southern Idaho (Twin Falls), North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton), Bismarck State College, Northwest Iowa Community College, Hawkeye Community College, Northern Maine Community College (Presque Isle), Walla Walla Community College, Yakima Valley College, Mid-State Technical College (Wisconsin Rapids), Northeast Community College (Norfolk NE), Lamar Community College (Colorado). Towns of 8,000 to 40,000 with a working ag economy.

Enrollment fluctuates with commodity cycles — a bad year and farm-kid students stay home to help. Industry advisory board members want graduates who can troubleshoot a CAN bus on a sprayer AND read a soil test AND pass a forklift cert, in a 2-year program. Equipment donations from John Deere and Case IH are generous but come with strings. Articulation agreements with state land-grants change every few years. Adjuncts are hard to find; the local CCA who used to teach soils nights retired.

A student walks in undecided, finds the precision ag track, lands a summer internship with a local ag retailer, and gets hired full-time before they graduate. A program completer goes on to NDSU or U of Idaho on the 2+2 pathway and the credits all transfer. A Perkins grant funds a new GPS guidance training rig. Industry advisory board meeting where every member says they need more graduates.

Canvas or Blackboard LMS, John Deere training simulators (donated), Case IH ride-and-drive units, ATTRA resources from NCAT, university extension fact sheets, eXtension content, the college's teaching farm (often 40-200 acres), greenhouse, soil-lab basics (Mehlich-3, pH meter, EC), pesticide applicator training curricula from the state Department of Ag, Perkins V grant reporting templates, AGCO and John Deere Tech Connect curricula.

Fall semester August-December, spring semester January-May. Summer split between curriculum redevelopment, grant reporting, equipment maintenance on the teaching farm, FFA judging events, and internship site visits. State conventions and the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE) conference in late fall. Advisory board meetings each semester.