A career with farm equipment can be helped with the right training, and a John Deere-sponsored program in Kansas is aiming to provide students with the skills they need.
According to the student newspaper of Pittsburg State University, a number of students taking classes at the school are primarily enrolled in the John Deere Program at Fort Scott Community College. Keeley Fields, a junior in the program, told the publication the enrollees are taking care of their general education requirements at PSU to reduce travel times.
Fields said this year saw 30 students get in to the FSCC John Deere program, adding instructors are stringent in their class requirements.
"They can't afford to spend money on someone who's not going to put forth the effort to get themselves through," Fields said.
Programs like the one at FSCC may help bolster the future of the farm equipment industry by providing renewed sources of skilled employees. It may also prove beneficial for rural areas as well, which are seeing younger people move away for better economic opportunities.
John Deere training program providing farm equipment skills
Students who graduate from a John Deere-sponsored program have trained to repair farm equipment and other machines.