Seeds of survival-Idaho program offers supplemental job training for farmers

BOISE, Idaho – Mike Stowell loves
growing alfalfa on his farm at the foot
of the Owyhee Mountains of
southwestern Idaho, but depending
on agriculture for his living these
days led to some real
soul-searching.

By DAN GALLAGHER of the
Associated Press
Missoulian

"It has been some very rough years
recently," he said. "I decided that
instead of diversifying my crops, I
would diversify my career."

He turned to the University of Idaho’s
Alternative Careers for Idaho Farmers
program, and now is training to be
paramedic, a skill he hopes will
augment his earnings so he can
keep his spread.

The national pilot program, underwritten with a $1.4 million federal grant, is being run through the
university’s cooperative extension service.

Farming has never been easy, but the increasing importance of variables such as foreign imports and
government regulation makes it even more demanding.

Some years, commodities such as Idaho’s famous potatoes may earn growers less than the cost of
production – even as the price for herbicides and equipment rise steadily.

"It could be everything from price issues to bad weather that creates a huge loss, and they can’t get
out from under it," Alternative Careers program manager Nance Ceccarelli said.

The project kicked off last November and runs through June 2003. About 60 people have received help
or are in the process. Program coordinator Brad Jahn said the office has interviewed about 275
farmers since last fall.

Applicants go through a rigorous process in which they detail their farming history, financial need and
how they hope to benefit from the extra education.

"It is a needs and means test. If they have resources to finish their own degree, this isn’t the program
for them," Ceccarelli said. "It asks, ‘What’s your job going to be? Can you do that at home? Do you
like working with people? Do you like working with numbers?’ "

They may pursue technical training, a skill certification or education through two- or four-year
colleges. The assistance could run from a few hundred dollars to $10,000, Jahn said. The program
monitors the recipient’s progress for each semester.

Scholarships can pay for registration, books or indirect costs of returning to school such as child
care or transportation. Participants may obtain part-time work geared to their training.

There are a number of jobs available for farm families:

n Paramedics, nurses and school teachers are in demand in Idaho’s rural communities. Helping
farmers and their wives finish those degrees brings in more income and fills a community need.

n One farmer has been a pilot for years. The program is helping him earn his certification so he can
do mapping for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to supplement his income.

n Another man went through a professional truck driving school. He dispatches for a trucking
company and drives when needed.

n Many farmers are skilled in welding. Add some training and they become bondable and have a new
trade.

Weathering years of weak crop prices and striking out for a new career are jarring. The program also
may help pay for some counseling for the families.

"It’s a huge area of need. If there’s a long history of grandfather having the farm, father having the
farm, then changing direction is very stressful to them," Ceccarelli said.

Many families do not want to leave the small towns that shaped their lives. Those communities also
are diminished by losing them.

"In the small towns, this is the leadership of the community," she said. "To see them lose, it’s really
hard. Children and spouses are affected. It’s uplifting to see they’re employed."

Farmers work from dawn to dusk and they plow that same energy into their new studies, Ceccarelli
said.

"I deal with perhaps the most optimistic people in the world," she said.

Stowell is working with the Homedale ambulance service and studying to become a Canyon County
paramedic. His wife, Jana, is a registered nurse and could help the family finances, but they want
their four young children to benefit from life on the farm rather than sending them to daycare, he said.

"It’s going to be hard enough," Stowell said. "If I had to raise the additional money for training, it
would be impossible. But when farming is bad, being a paramedic may be good."

On the Net:

Alternative Careers for Idaho Farmers program: http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/acif

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