(♪) (♪) Hi, I'm Sapphire.

Did you know by the year 2050, we'll need to double the amount of food made on earth to feed everyone who will live on this planet?

That means we will need a lot of people with jobs in agriculture.

Agriculture is the science of farming.

That means raising crops and animals that can provide food for humans.

While I'm sure you know about people who are farmers and ranchers, there are a ton of other very important jobs that help make the food we eat every day.

One of those jobs is an agronomist.

An agronomist is a person who helps farmers grow the best food possible to feed you and your family.

Today, we're in Ulysses, Kansas, talking to an agronomist that works at Crop Quest.

Crop Quest is a company that helps farmers identify and fix problems in their crops.

Crop Quest works with farmers in multiple states, and its headquarters is in Dodge City, Kansas.

Let's take a look at a day in the life of an agronomist.

Let's go!

Let's meet Brandon, an agronomist at Crop Quest.

Brandon, can you tell me what you do in your job?

An agronomist is a scientist that's an expert at raising food.

We call those crops.

I like to describe what I do as being a plant doctor.

Farmers hire us to do weekly checks from the time they're planted to the time they're harvested.

Kind of like checkups.

You know, the checkups you do with your doctor?

Yeah, I get it.

Checkups aren't usually too bad.

Unless there are shots.

I know, right?

Besides the checkups we do, we get calls from farmers because they can tell something's wrong or they need help fixing their crops.

Kind of like when you have to call a doctor when you're sick or injured.

I heard you recently broke your foot.

Did the doctor run any tests?

Yeah, he did.

He did X-rays to see if it was broken.

Unfortunately, it was.

I was on crutches for six weeks.

Well, just like the doctor ran tests, I'll run tests to see what's wrong, and then come up with a plan to either fix it or keep it from getting any worse.

OK, that makes sense.

Today we're in a field of wheat.

Can you tell me some of the tests you do when the wheat is sick?

Absolutley.

Better yet, why don't we teach you how to run the tests?

That way you can see what it’s like to be an agronomist for a day.

Heck, yeah.

Do I get to wear a lab coat and a stethoscope?

Heck, no.

But you do need a more appropriate wardrobe.

Ummmm?

I got you.

All right, now I'm ready.

Let's go.

Let's go!

Brandon and I visited a couple of fields to take a look at the different crops.

We took nutrient samples from the field of wheat.

We took samples from two different places: one part where the plants looked sick, and another part where they looked healthier so we could compare the differences.

We’re going to pull a soil sample.

And we're going to do a tissue sample.

Put it here between the rows.

Then you just step on it.

See how it just goes down.

It'll stop.

You pull back up.

I'll just put it in the bag.

Yeah.

Yep.

Go until it stops a little bit more.

There you go.

Pull it back up.

There you go.

And we’ll flip her over.

Press that core out.

Cool.

So we're pulling tissue sample now.

So we'll take the flag leaf.

This is the flag leaf.

Yep.

That's the flag leaf.

Just keep pulling a few more of these.

Sweet.

All right, there we go.

Now we'll go to the bad spot and pull the bad ones.

We'll call her good.

So, like, if we're at a younger growth stage, it's small enough.

We just take off the whole plant and put it in there.

That way they can sample it.

We're good on this one.

Then we rode to an alfalfa field, where we used this sweep net to figure out what insects are living in this field.

Some insects are good for their crops, but others can damage the plants.

I want you to look at this through the microscope.

So right here is an — a spotted alfalfa aphid.

Oh, what the heck.

You see how he has all those spots on his back?

Mmm-hmm.

That's what a spotted alfalfa aphid looks like.

That’s cool.

Brandon enters his data through an app on his phone.

Being an agronomist is a job where you don't have to sit in an office all day, and I really like that.

Well, were you surprised at all the things I do?

Yeah, for sure.

I really liked the sweep net.

That was cool.

Who knew there were so many different bugs?

And some of them are actually good for the plant.

So what do you do with all the information you gather and what the lab will tell you about the field?

After I finish my visit and I get the test results back from the lab, I meet with the farmer and give them my recommendations.

Together, we decide how to solve the problem.

I might tell the farmer they should add a nutrient or fertilizer to improve the soil, sort of like when a doctor says you need to take vitamins or some kind of medicine.

Or I might suggest that the farmer uses a pesticide to get rid of the bugs that are bad for the crop.

I really enjoy helping my clients.

I visit with most of them every week.

So you really get to know them and their families, just like your doctor gets to know you and your family.

I want my client's crops to do well, because if they do, that means I'm doing a good job, and so are all my colleagues at Crop Quest.

All this stuff we've done today reminds me of doing experiments in science class.

So I guess an agronomist should like science, right?

Right.

So what else could a kid like me do to get ready for a job like this?

I always recommend students get involved in their FFA program.

I think they have a lot of activities that would help you prepare for what you're going to study in college.

Your high school might also have AG CTE classes that would help you get well prepared.

I'll have to check those out.

So what other fields do you work in?

Hop on!

Let's go check some baby corn.

Baby corn?!

Wow!

That is baby corn.

How tall will it be?

A lot taller than we are.

Whoa.

Brandon, you know so much about being an agronomist.

Did you go to college?

Yep.

I grew up around farming, and I knew that if I had a family one day, our family farm wouldn't be big enough to support us.

I went to Garden City Community College after high school, and after I went to Kansas State University to study agronomy.

The summer after my senior year at K-State, I did an internship with Crop Quest that let me work with an agronomist to get hands-on experience.

I loved all the variety that came with helping lots of different farmers.

It seemed like a job where you'd never be bored.

After my internship was over, Crop Quest offered me a full-time job, and I've been here ever since.

That's really cool.

What else do agronomists do besides helping farmers take care of their crops?

Some agronomists work for seed companies, which produce the seeds farmers plant as their first step in raising a crop.

These agronomists advise farmers which seeds they should buy depending on the kind of soil they have, the weather in their area, how much water they have, and so on.

I considered going into this kind of job, but after my internship I really knew I liked the challenge of figuring out what's wrong with crops.

If you're considering a career in agronomy, you should really do a hands-on internship while you're in college to help you figure out what you like best.

Crop Quest actually has internships starting after your freshman year of college.

Doing an internship sounds really awesome.

I like that your job lets you help so many other people.

Just like a doctor.

Yep.

Just without the shots.

I'd like to thank Brandon, all the farmers I got to meet in southwest Kansas and everybody at Crop Quest for helping me learn what it's like to be an agronomist.

They play a big part in feeding the world.

Be sure you visit hirepaths.com to learn about other careers in agriculture as well as other high-demand jobs in Kansas.

Until next time, This is Sapphire signing off near Ulysses, Kansas for Cool Careers.

Have a great day!

Hi, I’m Jude.

Do you like yogurt, cheese, ice cream or a cold glass of milk?

I do for sure.

All right!

Americans eat and drink a ton of dairy products like these, and people who work in the dairy industry help feed the world every day.

Today, we're at McCarty Family Farms near Rexford, Kansas.

They have three dairies in Kansas and another one in Ohio.

And they milk nearly 20,000 cows a day.

Wow, that's a lot of cows!

This dairy near Rexford is their family's headquarters, and it even has a visitor's center where people can learn about milk's story from soil to cup.

Today, we're going to explore what it's like to be a dairy farmer.

Let's go.

I'd like to introduce you to Ken, the youngest of the four McCarty brothers.

The owners of McCarty Family Farms.

Nice to meet you Jude and welcome to the McCarty Family Farms.

Well, thanks for hosting us today.

I'm super excited to learn more about the dairy industry because one, I totally love ice cream.

And two, I think it's really cool to have a job in agriculture.

It's the industry that feeds the world.

Well, you know, I'm glad that you think agriculture is cool, because I personally think I have one of the coolest jobs in the world.

And, you know, every day on a farm, it's a new adventure.

And there's always a lot of work to be done.

But I think that work is really important because every day people have to eat.

So what are some of the things you do here every day?

Well, you know, my No.

1 job is to take care of cows.

And that means making sure that they have fresh feed and water at all times, that their beds are clean and soft and comfortable for them to lie in and relax with their herd mates.

The other thing that I do here is to work really closely with genetic experts.

You know, our cows only give milk after they have a calf, and that means working with experts to ensure that the next generation is better than the last, is absolutely vital to our success.

You know, the most important thing that we do here, though is just let cows be cows.

What does that mean?

Just let cows be cows?

That means getting out of her way and letting her do what she wants to do.

You know, our cows here only spend about one hour every day in the milking parlor.

The rest of the time they spend here in their pen: eating, drinking, resting and hanging out with her friends.

Eating and hanging out with their friends?

I'm pretty good at those things, too.

Me, too, buddy.

Come on, I'll show you around some more.

Cool!

OK, so before I take you to go visit the milking parlor, I do have a few cool facts about cows to share with you, though.

Great.

I've got tons of questions.

I’ve never been to any place like this.

Well, I have some cool facts for you.

OK, fact number one: Did you know that cows have a stomach with four special compartments?

Not one like we do.

And that special stomach helps them digest different things that you and I can’t eat.

That means a cow is a ruminant, and ruminants are very special animals.

And that every cow on our farm eats about 100 pounds of feed every day.

And that's the equivalent of almost 300 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Wow!

OK, asking how many stomachs a cow had was not one of my questions.

I bet it wasn't.

You know, that special stomach is what makes those cows super efficient recyclers of food that we can’t eat and makes them produce a lot of milk.

And fact number two, did you know that we've got thousands of black and white cows here and those cows are called Holsteins?

And even though no two Holsteins have the same spots, it can still be hard to tell them apart.

So their spots are like human fingerprints?

No two are exactly alike?

That’s exactly right.

So did the cows have names?

Well not names like you and I would think.

The names that the cows have are names that represent our family’s farm name, as well as the bull who is the cow's father, and then a number that would correlate to who her mother was or an unique ID number that's kind of like our Social Security number.

All that information attaches to their unique ID number, which is attached to their electronic tag.

So I'm guessing they don't come running if you called their names?

Well, you know, when it's milking time, they'll come to the parlor no matter what you call them.

So last fact.

All of our cows have customized diets, just like professional athletes.

And we change what they eat depending on how old they are and whether or not they're producing milk.

So our cows milk for only about 10 months out of the year.

And during that time period, they're fed a very special diet to help them produce lots of healthy, nutritious milk.

I'm guessing they don't eat PB&Js?

No sandwiches for our cows, pal.

Our cows get fed by a special cow nutritionist.

And that cow nutritionist helps us formulate diets that are specific to each cow’s needs.

And what they end up eating is basically like a cow casserole.

And in that cow casserole are things like grains, like corn or soybean meal, vitamins and minerals to help keep them healthy and happy and a lot of grasses like alfalfa hay, or corn silage.

Corn silage is when we chop the grain corn plant and pack it up into a pile real nice and tight and allow it to ferment.

It's kind of like cow sauerkraut.

GROSS!

I’ll stick to PB&Js.

How much milk does one cow produce each day?

On our farm, our cows produce about 100 pounds of milk each day.

That's almost 12 gallons.

And we ship all of our milk to a plant that turns it into yogurt.

All that milk the she produces every day is enough to make about 250 servings of yogurt.

That's a lot of yogurt.

That is a lot of yogurt.

Now are you ready to go to the milking parlor to see where all the magic happens?

Sure.

Am I dressed okay?

I've never been to a milking parlor before.

It sounds kind of fancy.

It's not as fancy as you think it is, pal, but I've got all the stuff you need.

Let’s go.

Before we went into the milking parlor, Ken gave me boots and gloves to make sure I didn't track in any harmful germs.

The first thing that has to be done is to bring in the cows.

Ken says it's important that they do this quietly, calmly and on schedule when the cows are ready to be milked.

They bring them into the holding area first.

And then the cows pretty much just wait their turn to step onto the milking carousel.

The cows knew just what to do and were happy to do it.

The McCarty Family Dairy has one of the newest and coolest milking carousels in the world, installed in late 2022.

They call it a carousel because it's sort of like a merry-go-round the cows ride.

It takes about three or four people plus two robots to operate it.

The first task is to clean the cow’s teats at the udder prep station.

They have a wet brush and a dry brush to make sure they are clean and ready for the next step.

At the next station, the milker is put in place and is on for about 5 minutes.

The system can tell when the cow is done and will automatically remove the milker.

Finally, the last step is where the robots are put to work.

They spray a light mist of sanitizer on her teats to protect and condition before she steps off the carousel and heads back to the barn.

The whole thing takes less than 10 minutes and each cow does it three times a day.

Well, Jude, what did you think?

That was super cool!

I had no idea you could use robots to help milk cows.

This is delicious!

Is it really made with milk from this farm?

Yeah, it really is.

And, you know, I think it's pretty cool when I go to the grocery store, and I know that the milk in that product was made on this farm.

OK, so you've seen the cows getting milked.

But there's more stuff we do before the milk leaves the dairy.

Before the milk can leave our farm, it has to be cooled to lock in the freshness.

When it leaves the cow, it's about 99 degrees, and our cooler rapidly brings it to about 35 degrees before it goes onto the milk tanker truck.

Every truck that leaves our farm is quality and safety tested.

Then our milk will go through our milk condensing plant around the corner and on to the yogurt plant where additional quality and safety checks are completed before it's pasteurized and turned into yogurt.

OK, let's go see the rest of the dairy.

So Ken, you know so much about cows and the dairy industry.

How did you learn all this stuff?

Well, you know, my brothers and I started helping our parents on our family's farm as soon as we could start walking.

But, you know, I didn't really learn all about the science of dairy farming until I went to college at Kansas State University, where I majored in animal science with an emphasis in dairy.

College really helped me to understand what I'd been doing my entire life.

Dairy farming changes as new technologies are invented, like our fancy milking carousel in there.

When my brothers and I were younger, we would never have dreamed about milking cows the way we do today, and we never could have imagined all the different jobs that come with it.

You know, dairy farming is way more than just milking cows.

What are some of the other jobs people have on this dairy farm?

There are tons of jobs here besides the professionals who take care of our cows.

And of course, we need a lot of them, too.

We have about 200 total team members on our farm.

So if I wanted to work here someday, what can I do now to get a head start?

Well, you know, I always tell students to follow their passions and to pursue training in the career that you might want to go into.

But just learn about agriculture in general.

A great way to do that would be to join 4-H or FFA.

They're super fun and they're a great way to learn about all things agriculture.

Great!

I'm in 4-H, so I'm one step closer to becoming a dairy farmer.

Right on, buddy.

Now, before you leave, there's one more thing that I'd like to tell you that I'm super proud of about our farm.

Cool.

So, you know, besides taking care of our cows, we try really hard to take care of our land and conserve our water resources as well.

Because, you know, if we don't have a healthy planet, we can't have healthy cows or healthy people.

So it's really important to our family to do everything we can to make sure our farm doesn't have a negative impact on the environment.

And you can learn more about all of this on our website.

That's really awesome Ken.

I’ll definitely check that out.

I’m super impressed with everything I've learned today.

Thanks so much for showing me around.

You bet.

I'd like to thank Ken and the entire team at McCarty Family Farms for teaching me more about what it's like to be a dairy farmer.

There's way more to this job than you might think.

You and your family should take a trip here to check out the visitor center and see the dairy for yourself.

Learn more at mccartyfamilyfarms.com.

In the meantime, be sure to visit hirepaths.com to explore other cool jobs in Kansas.

Until next time, this is Jude signing off near Rexford for Cool Careers.

Have a great day!

Hi, I'm Emerson.

I've got to admit, even when I was a little kid, I always thought it'd be super exciting to work in a restaurant.

Being a waiter or cook just seemed like a fun job with plenty of opportunities to be creative and create yummy food that makes people happy.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic closed or limited people's abilities to gather in restaurants in 2020.

Restaurants across the country have struggled to find enough workers.

This workforce shortage has caused many restaurants to permanently close or reduce their hours of operation.

There simply aren't as many people who want to work in restaurants as there used to be, although plenty of people still want good places to eat.

Today, we are going to meet a woman who started her own restaurant and bakery in Pittsburg, Kansas.

She'll share her story, introduce us to what a restaurant manager does and then give us advice about how to start a career in the restaurant industry.

Let's go!

I'd like you to meet Heather, the co-owner of not one, but two businesses in Pittsburg TOAST and Pittsburg Bread Company.

Hi!

Heather, can you tell us a little bit about your business and how you got started?

Absolutely.

Growing up, I loved art, so I went to Pittsburg State University to pursue my passion for art.

While I was in college, I started a small cake shop with my mom and fell in love with being a small business owner.

Baking and decorating cakes blended my two loves: art and food.

So I threw myself into learning to become a baker and an entrepreneur.

We were so popular, the business grew in the first year, and I needed help.

My husband, Roger, quit his full-time job and came to work at the cakery.

I taught him how to bake.

Now he's our head baker, as well as co-owner of our businesses.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it really hurt small bakeries like ours.

To make a living, we turned to artisan bread baking to keep the lights on.

We sold bread curbside each week.

We started serving small preorder takeout lunches at the cakery for fun.

We saw a gap in the fresh food system and filled the need with locally sourced meals.

Since the lunches went so well, we decided to open TOAST.

We have since closed the cakery and converted it to Pittsburg Bread Company.

Can you tell us a little bit more what you serve at TOAST?

As you'd expect, most of our dishes are served on bread, either open-faced or as sammies — that's what we call sandwiches.

But we also have salads, bowls, sides, brunch items and, of course, yummy fresh-baked desserts.

Some of my favorites are Chicky-Chicky Bow-Wow, which is a grilled and marinated chicken with chipotle ranch on an open-faced toast.

Or our Just the Dip, which is our twist on the classic French dip sandwich.

Okay, now I'm hungry.

I'm hoping to try some of those later.

Yes!

I was thinking we would experience what it's like to cook in a commercial kitchen.

That would be awesome, but first, shouldn’t I learn how to be a restaurant manager like you?

Well, a restaurant manager does a little bit of everything, like cooking.

Before we opened, I worked on my own at home to create the menu, which meant doing a lot of research and trying out new ideas to create the right mix of items.

Now, I work closely with my head chef, Jerry, as well as with our other cooks to come up with new ideas.

We try to keep our menu specials as seasonal and local as possible.

When you run a small business, you have to be prepared to do whatever must be done.

I find myself in the kitchen making food, taking orders, waiting on customers, cleaning tables, doing dishes, meeting with vendors and hiring and scheduling employees.

When I'm not busy working in the restaurant itself, I'm often doing behind-the-scenes work like bookkeeping and employee payroll, inventory and ordering of ingredients, marketing and social media.

You name it, I do it.

I have to know how to do pretty much everything, because you never know when one of our employees might be sick or if they might need my help.

Ultimately, I'm in charge of everything, so I work hard to make sure that my customers come back and tell their friends.

So there are lots of different jobs in restaurants, right?

How many people work here, and what do they all do?

Yes, there are about 15 people that work here at TOAST and at Pittsburg Bread Company.

Some people work front-of-house, which means they work outside the kitchen helping to take orders and bring the food to our customers.

They also are responsible for setting tables and cleaning them up and making sure customers have whatever they need to have a great experience.

Some common jobs you've heard of in restaurants that would be considered front-of-house include a host who helps people get seated or manages people waiting for a table, a waiter who often takes orders and brings people food and drink, or a cashier who collects people's payments.

But not every restaurant is set up the same way.

Cool.

I think I'm ready to put on my chef hat and apron and give cooking a shot.

I'm hungry.

OK, let's take you into the kitchen and learn how to make something off the menu yourself.

Let's do it!

Heather showed me how to make Chicky-Chicky Bow-Wow.

We started by toasting the bread.

While that was happening, we cut up the veggies and measured the chicken.

So we're going to take chicken into that little tub, and you want three ounces.

Then we grilled the chicken, added the chipotle ranch sauce, and made it look beautiful by topping it with microgreens.

Look at you go!

Very good.

Now we're going to top it with our pickled onions, and that is the Chicky-Chicky Bow-Wow.

Looks really good!

Better put it in the window and ding the bell.

Mmmm!

That was so good.

I’d totally like to try to make that for my family when I get home.

Well, don't give away any of my secrets.

Let me try.

Mmmm!

You did an awesome job.

As you learned in the kitchen, being a chef is a lot of work, but it can be fun too.

Other jobs in the kitchen include cooks who help make the entrees, sauces, salads and sides in our restaurant under the direction of our head chef.

At TOAST specifically, we also greatly depend on the work of our head baker, Roger, and his team at the Pittsburg Bread Company.

They make all the baked goods featured on our menu.

There are also people who work in the kitchen or a bakery focused on washing and preparing the ingredients for the cook.

And others who keep the kitchen dishes and tools clean and sanitized.

Again, as the manager, I know how to do all of these jobs in case I have to step in on any given day.

And I make sure that everyone is doing their job as well as possible.

So what advice do you have for a kid who wants to manage a restaurant someday?

Definitely learn to cook.

You could take culinary classes at school or learn from a family member.

I'd also suggest to take some business classes because managers need to make business decisions like purchasing ingredients and taking care of accounting tasks like helping with employee payroll and paying bills.

But most importantly, get a job working in a restaurant.

Learn the best practices, including how to cook safely in the kitchen, or how to make customers feel appreciated.

When the restaurant was open, Heather showed me some of the jobs in front of the house.

I got to try filling waters and trays of popcorn.

I helped carry food and waters to the table, and I watched her take orders at the counter.

It was a lot of fun.

I liked working in the front of the house, too.

Many people try out this type of work as a waiter or host.

These make great jobs for high school and college students because the training to do this kind of work is relatively short.

However, some people fall in love with working in restaurants and make a career of it.

Some restaurants have full-time professional waiters who have a lot of knowledge about food and drink and enjoy giving customers an awesome experience.

Thank you, Heather, for sharing your career as a restaurant manager with us and introducing me to your team here at TOAST.

I had a lot of fun and enjoyed learning about these types of jobs in this industry.

And don't forget to check out TOAST's Chicky-Chicky Bow-Wow.

It's excellent.

Check out hirepaths.com to learn about other high-demand careers in Kansas.

Until next time, this is Emerson signing off in Pittsburg for Cool Careers.

Have a great day!

(♪)