LAKE COUNTY, Ohio — There is definitely more to agriculture than farming.

“People being so disconnected from agriculture, they don’t realize the number of agricultural careers that there truly are,” said Mandy Oarhood, Ohio Farm Bureau Organization Director serving northeast Ohio counties. “A lot of times, they just think of the typical farming careers, and there is so much more.”

The Lake County Farm Bureau hosted a Q&A session for high school students exploring post graduation paths in February. Finding Your Future in Agriculture was conceived during a Lake County Farm Bureau board event planning meeting to address the county’s agricultural and rural community needs. When the topic of careers in agriculture came up, the group recognized that there were more agricultural careers than students pursuing those careers.

“We had it open to any high school student for Lake County and then we also ended up sharing it on social media,” said Sam Bly, Lake County Farm Bureau trustee. “We had it open to any high school students that were considering a future in agriculture, in any aspect, whether they were thinking about going to college, the trades, or even their farm.”

“It was a nice opportunity for the people who came to be able to hear, what I call success stories, and to ask questions about maybe what they need to do to prepare themselves to pursue a career in agriculture,” Oarhood said.

“We ended up with six kids, three parents, and one teacher,” Bly said.

The event featured three speakers, all with Lake County ties. Julia Bystromone, a recent graduate and Farm Bureau trustee, former Lake County Farm Bureau scholarship winner, Sara Lehman, and local beef production farmer, Chip Brown.

Bly, who happens to be a teacher, pushed for educational programming that would show kids how what they are consuming is grown, produced, and delivered.

“Our kids just don’t even know how to put their hands in the dirt a lot of times — we could get greenhouses going — that would be the start to get them to see them see where food comes from,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a sensitive subject, talking about where meat products come from, but they need to know — so they have an understanding of it too.”

Western Lake County is more urban while the eastern portion of the county maintains a rural flavor. Despite its modest geographic size — the smallest county in the state — there is a lot of disconnect from students about what agriculture looks like in their backyard.

“I teach at the west end but I live in the east end,” Bly said. My students think it’s crazy that I have large animals on my property — they can’t fathom that I own cows. “They ask how far I drive to get there, and I say 20 minutes.” 

Students attending were juniors or seniors in high school who were set on pursuing careers in agriculture after graduation. However, There was one was a young lady that was still undecided about a creer path who found value in the event.

“They own a family farm so she was happy to be there just to talk to other high school students that are thinking about agriculture and different aspects of it,” Bly said. “The other ones, they were happy to talk to people that had already gone to college.”

Lehman, a field sales rep with Mars Petcare, spoke about her experiences, fielding questions about college, her career path, why she chose what we did, and how she got to where she is today.

Despite the size of the group Lehman was encouraged by the level of interest from those who showed up.

“I thought it was great,” she said. “I always love an opportunity to interact with people who are passionate or involved in agriculture and have the same interests. It was a good group of people that were engaged and interested in asking questions.”

Lehman contacted fellow Ohio State University alum, Emily Wickham for additional resources. Wickham, the OSU Communications and Undergraduate Program Manager in the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership, provided information on job opportunities for agriculture communications graduates.

“She sent me material explaining what you can do with your degree and what positions are out there after you get your degree,” Lehman said. “Because it’s always nice to know that you have a position available after you spend all that time and money on schooling.”