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WARSAW — Agricultural roots run deep for Justin Snider, James Sprunt Community College livestock and poultry instructor.
“I grew up on a ranch in western Oklahoma — in a big rodeo family. I rodeoed professionally until I was in my 30s,” said Snider. “I grew up with horses and cattle and all that — It’s all I knew.”
Snider, who moved to North Carolina 12 years ago, has an animal science degree and a business degree from Oklahoma State University. Prior to accepting his role at JSCC in July 2023, he was as a high school ag teacher and worked for a national FFA partner.
The Texas, Oklahoma import told Duplin Journal animal science is where his passion lies.
“I’ve taught in three different states. What makes North Carolina unique is that they provide a pathway through the community college systems to your high school juniors and seniors that qualify because of good grades and background,” said Snider, explaining that the state will pay for the students’ coursework through what is called the Career and College Promise Program. Through the CPP program students can graduate high school with a community college degree completely free.
“So, that is a huge advantage that other states don’t have. We see a lot of kids that take advantage of that opportunity,” said Snider. “I tell kids all the time, you know, agriculture is the only industry that 100% of the globe needs… everybody has to eat …have clothing, and shelter in order to survive. Agriculture is the only industry that satisfies those needs. So, as a first world country, as long as we can feed our people, we will remain a global power. The day that we cannot feed our people anymore and we’re dependent on other countries, that’s a threat to our nation and the way that we know it.”
Snider spoke about the importance of steering more people back to the agriculture industry.
“The biggest challenge we’re seeing right now is that we’ve steered everybody toward technology and all these other pieces. We still got to eat, we still have to have food, clothing, and shelter. And we don’t have the workforce,” said Snider. “I have industry partners contact me quite regularly with all kinds of openings. There are more jobs than we have applicants right now. So, if people want a job, there are opportunities in agriculture. There’s definitely a labor shortage in our industry.”
Snider told Duplin Journal of the large demand to fill jobs in the agriculture industry.
“We don’t have near the enrollment we need to satisfy the labor shortage that we’re seeing in the area. Duplin County is the number one agricultural county in the state. The jobs are here. But, you know, there is a lack of interest with the current generation coming into agriculture as an industry and I don’t know where that stems from. I think we’re enough generations removed from the farm that people forget where their food comes from,” he said, explaining that agriculture requires more hard work than other industries and that’s not always a draw.
Snider told Duplin Journal that since COVID there has been an increased desire for locally sourced foods.
“I think COVID scared everybody enough. It was the first time in anybody’s lifetime they walked in a grocery store and the shelves were empty. And it woke people up to the idea that if we don’t protect our supply chain, we could have a problem,” said Snider. “They’re seeing an increase in interest of locally sourced meats, produce, meat handlers licenses, all kinds of things were people may want to own a cow or two and then harvest their own meat and not have to worry about getting it from the grocery store –that’s coming from the state department, that we’re seeing an increase of interest. …I do think COVID opened a lot of people’s eyes that maybe I need to know how to provide a little bit more for myself and not be so dependent upon the supply chain that we’ve become so accustomed to.”
Snider shared that most of their students are enrolled in the agribusiness pathway.
“It’s our largest one because it’s the most diversified. You can go do anything within agribusiness, but I would probably say it’s two-thirds are in agribusiness, a third is in animal science, and then we have a few sprinkled in the other programs. Those two carry the weight,” said Snider.
According to Snider, starting this school year, JSCC will be able to also service Pender County high school students that want to take advantage of the CCP program.
“We have four pathways that we offer through our associates program, which is animal science, agribusiness technology, ag education, and swine management, which is a program that we’re actually closing out, but we still offer it at this point. So, we will be down to three,” said Snider, explaining that they don’t have much participation, and industry partners have shared that an animal science degree would suffice.
“We already offer that, with the exception of about three additional courses in swine production,” he said, adding that it is more cost effective and for efficiency purposes.
