Recently, I read about a new survey from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. According to the survey, less than half the nation’s four million college graduates ages 25 and under were working in jobs that required a college degree - a 54 percent decrease from last year. But I am happy to report things are different for graduates with degrees in agriculture from Texas universities.

Trends seem to indicate that those with agriculture degrees are holding their own, even in a rocky economy. According to Texas A&M University, more companies are requesting resumes and interviews with agriculture students, and more are offering jobs to graduating seniors this year than last year.

In fact, the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, which has 31 undergraduate degrees and 72 graduate degrees, says the number of companies recruiting agriculture students was up 3 percent in Spring 2009, compared with Spring 2008. And there was a 6 percent increase in interviews compared with last year. University officials say the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is one of the only colleges in the university that still boasts positive recruitment numbers for its graduating seniors.

These figures indicate that as students contemplate a major, they should take a hard look at agriculture. While it is true the economic downturn has taken a toll, even on the recruitment of agriculture grads, most students find that while they may not get as many job offers as in the past, they will get an offer.