Human Capital Needs of Black Land-Grant Institutions

Abstract

There is a growing concern among leaders the theoretical issues relating to the segof our nation about the impending human mented labor markets of black agricultural capital shortage in agriculture. The United economists and the black land-grant insti-States, a nation that leads the world in the tutions. production of agricultural products, is seriously threatened by deepening shortages of SUPPLY/DEMAND RELATIONSHIPS OF highly qualified scientists, managers, and AGRICULTURAL SCIENTISTS technical professionals-including agricul-An examination of the supply/demand retural economists. The U.S. agricultural syslationships of agricultural scientists reveals tem, which contributes some 20 percent to that there is growing evidences of deficits of the nation's gross national product, 23 percollege-educated agricultural scientists. Surcent to the nation's employment, and 19oulter and Stanton (1980 1983) percent of export earnings, increasingly inthe Resident Instruction Committee of the tegrates advanced technologies and intensive National Association of State Universities and capital invest t (l C-Land-Grant Colleges, and others, have pretee). This challenge was dramatized in a forum dicted that quantity demanded will exceed dieted that quantity demanded will exceed entitled, "Investing in Brain Power: Keeping quantity supplied by as much as 50 percent U.S. Agriculture's Competitive Edge," jointly in some occupational areas, Table 1 and figsponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriures 1 and 2 culture and the National Research Council's Board on Agriculture. At that conference, in framing the challenge to the group, John a Block, Secretary of Agriculture, called for a /\