By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH

Indiana Correspondent

HUNTINGTON, Ind. — College students in agriculture-related programs should be aware of the variety of jobs available to them after graduation, the president of Beck’s Hybrids said.

As an example, Scott Beck shared a list of some of the job categories available at his Atlanta, Ind.-based company. Included were aviation, information systems, processing and facilities.

“It really opens your eyes to see what areas you can go into and still stay in agriculture,” he explained. “There are a lot of opportunities in agriculture beyond the production side.”

Beck spoke Nov. 14 at Huntington University as a part of the school’s Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies’ second annual Harvest Celebration. Beck’s was founded 80 years ago and has facilities in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Ohio. The company also has a research site in Hawaii. Scott Beck is the fourth generation to work in his family’s business.

When looking for employees, he said the company considers potential workers that show integrity, innovation, adaptability, commitment and passion. It tries to attract students with those characteristics, he noted.

“You hear that a company has really grown, but companies don’t grow,” Beck explained. “It’s the people that grow. If you invest in those people, that really advances the company.

“When you add so many new employees a year, you have to look at what happens to any company’s culture. Culture is important to us. You know what that culture is when it’s small, but in a growing organization, the communication of it is much more important.”

The Haupert Institute opened in the fall of 2015 with the goal of offering a faith-based agricultural curriculum. As of this fall, 34 students are enrolled in the institute, including 14 first-time freshmen. Two full-time faculty members teach agricultural courses. Six faculty teach business, education, biology and chemistry for the institute.

HU is a Christian college of liberal arts. It offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in more than 70 areas of study. President Sherilyn Emberton, a Texas native, remembered her reaction when she arrived in the area to interview for the job of HU president.

“As we were landing at the Fort Wayne airport, when we flew out from under the clouds and I saw all that land in crop production, it was amazing to me. I wanted to know who does agriculture in Indiana. I was told Purdue (University). I asked 20 to 30 times and people would say ‘Purdue.’”

The institute’s first students were pioneers, Emberton said, because “it was like recruiting for a football team. You don’t have a coach, you don’t have a football stadium, but you’re going to play. Since then, it’s developed into a full-throttle agriculture program.”

A greenhouse – the Ware Plant Science Production Facility – is under construction on the south side of the university’s Dowden Science Hall. The 3,600 square-foot greenhouse will serve agriculture, biology and chemistry students. It’s tentatively expected to open by the end of January 2018.

Late last year, the institute’s agricultural education program was approved by the Indiana State Board of Education. The program includes courses in agribusiness, education and agricultural instruction. It will also offer vocational skills instruction from local education partners and field experience in agriculture through internships, the university said.