A deeper look into the agriculture department and what makes it a great program
By Sagelyn Budy
Student Reporter
Northwestern State College approached Leo Brandt at the age of only 28 and asked him to start an Agriculture Department at Northwestern in 1952.
The young married, veteran, who had a love for agriculture and working with students, accepted and accomplished the challenge before retiring from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 1986.
If only Brandt knew the impact his leadership and core values had on so many lives then, and still to this day because of developing the agriculture department at Northwestern in those first 34 years.
“The agriculture department here at Northwestern has not only provided me with directions for a career but also directions for who I want to be,” said Riley Tune, a senior majoring in agriculture at NWOSU. “I am where I am today and have the opportunities I have because of the agriculture department.”
Dr. Dean Scarbrough, chair of the agriculture department, explained why students should pick the agriculture department at Northwestern with the first reason being the people.
“Any institution is only as good as the people that make it up,” Scarbrough said.
Every agriculture faculty at NWOSU grew up on a farm or ranch and received a higher education degree in agriculture and animal science.
Some professors even studied agriculture in multiple places in the world, which exposes a person to multiple practices and perspectives.
“This results in a great mix of both application and theory to offer students as we teach our classes,” Scarbrough said.
Steve Sneary, instructor of agriculture and farm management, said the agriculture department stands apart from other departments on campus because of the hands-on experience the university ag farm provides students.
The farm allows students to utilize different livestock animal techniques, including artificial insemination, judging livestock, fitting and clipping an animal and nutritious feeding program that are best for each livestock animal, Sneary said.
Dr. Tracy Beedy, associate professor of agriculture, mentioned more hands-on opportunities the farm provides the students in the department.
Metals and welding, and lab management and project construction are both taught at the farm, she said.
Other classes such as horticulture and plant science are taught in the green house at the farm where students are able to grow, care for and study the different parts of various plants and varieties of multiple crops, Beedy said.
“One of my favorite agriculture classes was horticulture at the school farm where we planted and cared for plants that will be distributed around campus in the spring,” said Jonas Decker, a senior majoring in agriculture.
It was enjoyable because it was a hands-on class that allowed the students to get their hands dirty as well as learn about different topics such as floriculture, hydroponics and floral design, he said.
Decker said his favorite memory from the agriculture department was at the farm during his plant science class when students got to plant different varieties of wheat.
“Students had the opportunity to load seed wheat into the drill, drive the tractor while planting the wheat in rows and then mark the different rows of each variety of wheat that was planted,” he said.
It was a unique experience because it displayed each student’s background and knowledge in the art of agriculture as each student immediately pitched in and knew exactly what to do, Decker noted.
“All the classes I have had the privilege to take have provided hands-on experiences to help us better understand the content,” Tune said. “The professors are always willing to lend a helping hand and are invested in anything we do.”
Dr. Mindi Clark, associate professor of agriculture, has a love for agriculture, teaching and lending that hand to help her students be successful.
“Our students feel comfortable in asking questions if they do not understand something and take advantage of opportunities we provide them in order to achieve being successful,” she said.
The agriculture department offers students a wide variety of opportunities, so they can find their interest within agriculture and be sure they are prepared for their career one day, Clark said.
“The agriculture department has prepared me for post-college endeavors by providing a robust agricultural education, forming connections with fellow students and facilitating my professional growth,” Decker said.
A student can major in agriculture, agricultural business or agriculture education with multiple minor options such as animal science, field crop consulting and mass communication.
Scarbrough said the department currently has around 120 agriculture majors with 30 of those being agriculture education majors.
“Agriculture education prepares future teachers of agriculture for the secondary school setting by providing the students similar opportunities that are in the field,” Clark said.
The agriculture department graduates five to eight agriculture education majors a year and hopes to produce agriculture teachers out into local communities, she noted.
Scarbrough said once graduated, several agriculture majors go back home to work on their family farms and ranch operations.
Some go into government agencies such as the Farm Service Agency, National Resource Conservation Service or ag extension offices. Others may go into businesses of several types both on the grain and animal science side and a few go into graduate school in various areas.
The agriculture department offers its students various internships to receive more experience in and knowledge directly about the agriculture field they are interested in.
The department offers an internship course where agriculture students can choose anything from formal internships such as working with government agencies to informal internships such as working with an employer who owns a farm or ranch operation, Sneary said.
Scarbrough said he believes the quality of the NWOSU Agriculture Department’s facilities and value of the agriculture education experience is the reason for the steady numbers of agriculture major students in the past 15 years.
“We greatly appreciate the support from administration and private donors to the NWOSU Agriculture Department,” Scarbrough said. “I feel extremely fortunate to be a part of an institution and community that supports agriculture wholeheartedly.”
The 17:1 student-to-facility ratio at NWOSU allows the agriculture professors to know their students well, so each student has undivided attention and the opportunity to achieve his or her goals and careers.
The NWOSU Agriculture Department has a family atmosphere because everyone knows each other and professors are available to students much more, compared to a larger university, Beedy said.
This is what sets the NWOSU Agriculture Department apart from other universities’ agriculture departments, she noted.
Beedy said Northwestern’s Agriculture Department’s students are bright, motivated and connected to so many interesting areas of agriculture, making teaching that much more enjoyable.
Her favorite class to teach is soil science.
“It is usually a new topic to the students, and it is the one that I have been involved in research the most,” Beedy said.
Clark said all the classes she teaches in the agriculture department are her favorite because she can inform students about the importance of agriculture in each one of them.
“It is so cool to be involved in educating students about such a critical industry,” Clark said.
People truly do not understand how important the Northwestern Agriculture Department and agriculture industry is to have on campus and in the world, she noted.
Sneary added that the agriculture department is crucial to Northwestern because it helps further the agriculture knowledge to the younger generations in hopes that they will help play a part in feeding and clothing the world one day.
All appreciation goes to Brandt back in 1952 when he accepted the challenge to originate and develop an agriculture department on Northwestern’s campus and accomplished it.
