Northern Bedford High School graduate Sam Evans is among the growing agricultural workforce who has a post-secondary degree - a degree that he says is "a requirement" for his position as a crop specialist for the Curryville Crop Center in Morrisons Cove. Sam, who graduated in 1979 was an academic major and took horticulture classes in high school. After working for a year he attended Penn State's Altoona campus where he earned an Associate degree in Agricultural Business and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Science from PSU in 1985. He turned his degrees into a job with Hanover Farms, managing the corporate farm's crops such as peas, snap beans and limas, keeping 2500 acres producing and managing a staff of 10.

"Agricultural technology has grown exponentially," he says. "You can't farm like your grandfather anymore; farmers must be better business people and know a lot about a variety of subjects - chemistry, plants, soils, genetically engineered crops. In today's world it's pretty important to have the extra knowledge that a post-secondary education gives you." After more than a decade in corporate farming in the Eastern part of the state, Sam was recruited to come back home to manage the crop center. "I always knew I wanted to come back some day and this was a good opportunity," he says. "Morrison's Cove is beautiful - one of the most fertile valleys in Pennsylvania. He says he likes supporting the farmers in his home area. As sales manager he oversees nine sales people who work across the state; facilitates sales training, helps farmers with agronomics and conducts grower meetings. A lot of what I do is educational - helping to bring the most up-to-date knowledge into the hands of the farmers so they can run their farms more effectively and efficiently," he says. Sam likes the daily challenges presented in his career, noting, "I'm outside a lot - which I like - and can work to solve problems and help farmers make their operations grow. It's a rewarding career."

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