Mueller

LA GRANDE — Eastern Oregon University is recruiting students for a new major in agriculture entrepreneurship to train the next generation of farm leaders and professionals.

The four-year program will be introduced in fall 2022, and combines elements of agricultural science and business — including courses in marketing, finance and human resources, alongside courses in biology, chemistry and intensive farming.

“Agriculture is a big part of what Oregon is,” said Ed Henninger, dean of the College of Business at EOU. “Certainly, that marriage of bringing the business side and entrepreneurship side to agriculture was very intriguing to me.”

The university in La Grande recently hired Chad Mueller to lead the program, and he is making the rounds to attract students interested in pursuing careers in agriculture.

“I’m going to be out visiting high schools, talking to a variety of agriculture teachers, initially focusing on the eastern part of the state for the first year but then we’ll be reaching out across the state,” Mueller said.

Mueller’s own background is in beef cattle production. He came to Oregon State University in 2004, and has taught at EOU since 2008 as part of a cooperative agriculture and natural resources program between the two universities.

“This opportunity arose as something that was very unique,” Mueller said. “We really see this as going across multiple levels of agriculture, and multiple entities.”

Henninger said the program is a first of its kind, not only for Oregon but the entire Pacific Northwest. It originally started as a concept in the College of Business, with faculty evaluating where there may be gaps in education.

The college heard from several major agricultural employers in the region, including Beef Northwest and the J.R. Simplot Co., that expressed a need for workers who can help identify problems and come up with innovative, cost-effective solutions.

“Entrepreneurship refers to the ability to problem-solve to prosper, manage and organize a new or existing business to earn profits,” Henninger said. “Agricultural entrepreneurs bring unique insights and innovative thinking into growing a common vision for investment in their enterprise.”

For example, Mueller said agriculture continues to search for models to become more sustainable. At the same time, they must make financial sense for farms and companies to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

“The reality is that in agriculture, you need to have both the business know-how and fundamental science background,” Mueller said.

That is what the agriculture entrepreneurship program seeks to balance. Mueller said the college is also reaching out to companies where students could be placed in internships, providing a real-world setting to put these principles into practice.

“We want them to anticipate change,” Mueller said. “We want them to be able to look forward, and have those uncomfortable conversations about where agriculture is going and help plan those things out.”

Agriculture, food and fiber accounts for 9.1% of Oregon’s economy and 371,300 total jobs, according to a recent study by OSU.

Henninger said he anticipates roughly 20 students in the first cohort of agriculture entrepreneurship majors. As the program grows, he and other university leaders envision it will draw more attention to EOU, and attract students that might otherwise not consider attending college.

“We have all the confidence that this will become a signature program at EOU,” Henninger said.