Texas State University Department of Agriculture hosts annual Career Development Event Invitational

A local high school student repairs a piece of machinery for the Invitational Career Development Events.

On Friday, March 29 at the Freeman Center on the San Marcos Campus, faculty and students from the Texas State University Department of Agriculture hosted the annual Career Development Event Invitational contest for Texas Future Farmers of America (FFA) members. About 780 high school students from more than 100 schools participated.   

Contest categories included agricultural sales, farm business management, livestock and meat judging, poultry judging, nursery and landscape, wildlife and land. In addition to preparing students for agricultural careers and education, the annual contest serves as a recruitment tool for the Department of Agriculture and Texas State University.  

“Agriculture is a major economic driver in Texas. The Texas Workforce Commission projects more than 6,000 annual job openings from 2014-2024 for farm and ranch managers. The Department of Agriculture (soon to be renamed as the Department of Agricultural Sciences) at Texas State provides an enriched learning environment for a diverse body of undergraduate and graduate students and prepares them for careers in the agriculture-related fields at the state, national and international levels,” says Madan M. Dey, Department Chair Agriculture for College of Applied Arts. 

The department would like to thank the volunteers who made the event a success, as well as the high school students and agriculture teachers who attended.