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Jess Smithers, director of the Richland Community College ag program in Decatur, Ill., has an ambitious plan to increase career opportunities for students.

Austin Keating, Associate Editor, Prairie Farmer

August 14, 2019

3 Min Read
Richland Community College sign
CONNECTIONS: “Richland is blessed to have the Farm Progress Show on an every-other-year basis, which I think will provide some unique opportunities for students in the future in making career connections in agribusiness,” says Jess Smithers, ag program director.

The agriculture program at Richland Community College — a stone’s throw away from the Farm Progress Show grounds in Decatur, Ill. — is growing under a new director.

By the time of this year’s show, set for Aug. 27-29, Jess Smithers will have served in the role for about a year, following his tenure as state administrator for the Illinois Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education project. He served in the project between 2002 and 2018, starting out overseeing western Illinois ag education and then taking a statewide administrator role for the past six years.

Before 2002, Smithers was a high school agriculture teacher. He grew up on a diversified livestock farm in northern Illinois before eventually moving to Blue Mound, where he and his wife operate a hobby farm.

“As with anything, working in the field for 16 years as a state administrator helped me develop relationships with community college instructors,” Smithers says. “I also understand what the needs are of high school agriculture teachers, and having those relationships helps me in my current role, too.”

Jess Smithers
1 YEAR AND COUNTING: Richland’s ag program has had a new director for almost a year. Jess Smithers came to the position with experience in both teaching and administration.

Smithers says understanding how he can build off of what high school teachers impart to their students helps him prepare curriculum that touches on other aspects of working in ag. For example, he’s now starting a two-year program in agronomy and crop science to offer greater specialization and experience conducting field research to students.

The community college’s 50 acres of corn and soybeans, as well as 10 acres of tillable land, will help Richland as it enters into Natural Resources Conservation Service and Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education research grants.

“As we increase the size of our program and expand staff, which we have plans to do pretty quickly, then we’ll have the capacity to bring some more land into production as well,” Smithers says, noting they’ll be using precision agriculture technology and cover crops.

Internships part of education

Smithers is also emphasizing internships around Decatur as part of a well-rounded education to students.

“Richland is blessed to have the Farm Progress Show on an every-other-year basis, which I think will provide some unique opportunities for students in the future in making career connections in agribusiness,” Smithers says.

He adds that Decatur-based agriculture companies are always looking for well-trained talent for summer internships. He says internships are often a foot in the door to a career.

“If I could go back, I would do an internship. Even if it was just to see how a company works from the inside on my way to finishing my agricultural education degree, I think I would have,” Smithers says.

Pros of community colleges

Smithers is a graduate of the University of Illinois’ agricultural education program, but says he went to community college for two years before going on to the four-year university. He says agricultural students are likely to also start out at the community college level.

“According to data that I collected in my previous role, about 75% of the students going into agriculture pursued that at the community college initially,” Smithers says. “A vast majority of students choose the community college route, especially those that have an interest in agriculture.”

The cheaper price point is one reason, but he’s also pushing Decatur’s agribusiness leadership as another reason to come to Richland.

“With the consortium of Midwest community colleges we’re a part of, we’re all practically oriented,” Smithers concludes. “We’re doing practical farm research, where the results can be easily implemented and either taken back to the home farm or into an industry career.”

About the Author(s)

Austin Keating

Associate Editor, Prairie Farmer

Austin Keating is the newest addition to the Farm Progress editorial team working as an associate editor for Prairie Farmer magazine. Austin was born and raised in Mattoon and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in journalism. Following graduation in 2016, he worked as a science writer and videographer for the university’s supercomputing center. In June 2018, Austin obtained a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he was the campus correspondent for Planet Forward and a Comer scholar.

Austin is passionate about distilling agricultural science as a service for readers and creating engaging content for viewers. During his time at UI, he won two best feature story awards from the student organization JAMS — Journalism Advertising and Media Students — as well as a best news story award.

Austin lives in Charleston. He can sometimes be found at his family’s restaurant the Alamo Steakhouse and Saloon in Mattoon, or on the Embarrass River kayaking. Austin is also a 3D printing and modeling hobbyist.

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