The 2009 recipient of the Nuffield Scholarship will study agricultural college and university recruitment strategies. Karen Daynard, a graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) at the University of Guelph, is concerned about the decline in numbers of students applying to agricultural programs.
“With the industry at an exciting position where the potential for biotechnology and especially bioproducts is immense, we’ll need a well-educated workforce which understands agriculture. Already there are more jobs than employees and unless we do something to alleviate the stereotype that “an agricultural degree is only for farmers, this problem will just get worse.”
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Daynard will visit agricul tural col leges and universities in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America, China as well as various U. S. states and other Canadian provinces. Part of her time will be spent travelling with other scholars from different countries. She will also attend a Contemporary Scholars Conference in Washington, D. C. in February 2010, which will be attended by scholars from all of the other participating countries.
Karen Daynard hails from Guelph, Ontario, where she
runs her own agricultural communications company,
KD Communications.
