The agriculture, India's backbone as profiled, continues to be somewhat under-represented in India's education system.

Agriculture, or the backbone of India as it is popularly referred to, is underrepresented even now in the educational system of the country. The wide variety of courses in Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Agriculture Economics and Farm Management, and Genetic Plant Breeding, can be a stepping stone to a bright future.

Agriculture And Its Role in Education

Prof. Madhushree Sekher, who teaches at TISS, Mumbai, is of the view that more students would become interested in the subject with increasing awareness for agricultural programs. She asserted, "Once the word about our skill education programs in the agriculture sector becomes widely known, I am sure there will be more student traffic for the agriculture programs."

Affecting the Indian Education System:

With the age of speedy technological growth, agricultural courses bring a new dimension. "This course contains information regarding how agricultural crops are cultivated and post-care treatment of fruits from primary earth to by-product. All process details are there in the syllabus," he added.

"Most of the students arrive in this stream with an eye on competitive exam preparation; none of them opt for the agricultural sector since there's no financially sound income in this stream," Hemant Jadhav said.

SNDT Women's University professor Mira K Desai observed the significance of agricultural education in transforming the mindset, which is an important part of education.

But there are some students who complain about unequal opportunities and greater recognition for agricultural engineering. B.Tech Agri Engg student Tushar Joshi highlighted the need for equal marking division, a distinct cadre for agricultural engineers in the irrigation departments, and foreign training fellowships.

He declared, "We want equal mark division for Agri Enggs Like BSc Agri students. There must be a post of Agri engg separate in the irrigation dept. Only agriculture students understand how much & what quantity of water is consumed by crops. It would be highly useful for farmers. We need a separate cadre for agri engineering in Maharashtra like MP & other states."

Indian agricultural education is on the rise because of changing attitudes and awareness of its ambit. As per a report released in 2018, the intake for seven 'technical' UG courses in agriculture has gone up from 51,822 in 2017 to 64,619 this year, a 25% rise.a

Subsequently, a recent report holds the view that the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is likely to achieve its export target of $23.56 billion worth of exports of key agriculture and processed food during fiscal 2022-23. The recent estimates place exports at around $26 billion.

Chief Minister MK Stalin brought to light Tamil Nadu's excellent track record not only in education but also agriculture at the Agri Business Expo 2025. 

Tamil Nadu has surpassed all the agro segments. At the national level, it stands first in the productivity of oilseed, groundnut, and sugarcane, second in maize, and third in paddy. Horticultural production in the state has raised substantially, area under cultivation extending to 16.3 lakh hectares in the year 2023-24. The effect is being experienced even in India's egg and meat production, which is second in egg and sixth in meat production. Besides this, fisheries and aquaculture are also flourishing, where fish export is worth 1.34 lakh tonnes and has generated around ₹6,854 crore during 2023-24.

Farmers' support has been crucial. The government has also set up a Cashew Board to facilitate cashew nut growers and laborers. Bank credit to agriculture has surged hugely—from ₹1.83 lakh crore in 2019-20 to ₹3.58 lakh crore in 2023-24—showing robust financial support for agriculture. Subsidies to crops such as paddy and sugarcane have led to higher production and incomes. Crop insurance schemes also shield farmers from natural disasters.

The current Agri Business Expo 2025 will promote higher-order technologies and prospects, and enable synergies among investors, businessmen, and farmers. These combined actions of the state confirm Tamil Nadu's record growth in agriculture, illustrating its all-around development coupled with education and making it a first-class state in the country's agrarian economy.

St. Marys Area High School agricultural education instructors Gage McCabe and Kyle Anstrom, along with five of the 97 students enrolled in the inaugural class, were the guests of the Elk County Farm Bureau at their annual banquet and meeting last month at Gunners in St. Marys.

Anstrom spoke to the group about thanking the Elk County Farm Bureau for the sponsorship to attend Penn State's Agriculture Institute last summer. He stated that it was a wonderful opportunity for him as a new agriculture education teacher to attend the six-day teacher professional development program for kindergarten through 12th-grade educators that are interested in adding agriculture education to their curriculum.

Anstrom explained that the participants live on campus and are immersed in agriculture by taking part in labs instructed by professors at the university, as well as by going on excursions to local family operated farms and several wineries. He believed that having the ability to build relationships with teachers throughout the state was most valuable, as was the ability to speak one-on-one with the President of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Chris Hoffman, and Chris Davis, Executive Director of the Commission for Agriculture Education Excellence.

He talked about building a riparian buffer using materials in a hands-on lab experiment, and then the instructor took the students to one that was under construction near by. 

He defined a riparian buffer as a vegetation zone along a watercourse that has been seeded with native grasses and trees to maintain the watercourse as free of trash between cities and farms, and to stabilize against erosion.

Anstrom told how he applied what he learned at the Penn State Agriculture Institute to take his agriculture education students through the construction of a riparian buffer by borrowing a stream table from the Elk County Conservation District. He explained how his students printed out some 3D objects and did some CAD designing to construct items such as gabion baskets and various pipes and stream crossings.

Anstrom also reported going to a hemp-fed bison farm and being suitably dressed to tour Penn State's Poultry Farm, and getting to see the Center for Dairy of Excellence, including an arboretum tour, which he called wonderful.

He finished by remarking that he hopes to be able to go to Agriculture Institute 2.0 for repeat attendees next summer.

Other teacher Gage McCabe at the high school's Future Farmers of America (FFA) or agriculture education program, said the program is at wide-open throttle with all that is happening. "We have Kyle (Anstrom) teaching the small gas engines and a lot of the agricultural mechanics are nearby, and then I am teaching the plant and animal science part.".

We have the greenhouse being built and it's to be finished on Sept. 29. My students and I are just thrilled about that. We are well into a beef production unit, where students are learning everything about beef cattle and how they are raised and processed. Then we're going to go into dairy cattle, and sheep and goats.". We have five of our students that expressed a desire to come and join us here this evening, and we wanted you to know that we value all of your support.

He went on, "We have 97 members this year with six different classes in our agriculture education program. It has been a privilege to work with our students who are super excited about everything."

Then a student, Isaac Perlick, stood up and requested to be heard. He stated, "I'm the new Sentinel from the FFA program. I had to drop a couple of my classes to be able to take ag ed, and in my book, that's been the best decision I have ever made in my life. Well, not life, but in this junior year of school! And Mr. Anstrom and Mr. McCabe have just improved daily. In this program I see a brighter future, and it has even improved since the start of the year. There's more organization to everything. I do wish these two teachers the best of everything in their lives. I hope this program goes as far as possible.

In a first-ever attempt to get the children connected again with farming and sustainability, the Maharashtra government has decided to make agriculture a school subject up to Class 10 in a phased manner from the 2025-26 academic year.

The State Curriculum Framework 2024 and the National Education Policy 2020 both state that the program's goal is to close the knowledge gap between new innovations and old agricultural expertise. The curriculum is being developed in collaboration with the School Education Department and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

For Classes 1 to 5, students will study basics of plants, animals, local produce, water, soil, and exposure to creative innovation. For Classes 6 to 10, syllabus will extend beyond this to include kitchen gardening, organic farming, millet farming, food processing, exploitation of bamboo, poultry management, water auditing, and maintaining biodiversity registers.

Current agricultural practices are being integrated as well, including use of AI in agriculture, agri-tourism, smokeless cooking, and sustainable farming, thus exposing students to traditional as well as fussy new methods.

The main objectives of the program are to:

• Encourage early exposure to agriculture among school-going kids.

• Bridge the difference between traditional practices and new-age developments in agriculture.

• Put forth agriculture as a viable career path, supporting India's food security and sustainability initiative.

The government also guaranteed improvement in teacher training courses and practice facilities to facilitate successful implementation. The authorities believe that with this program, students' awareness of agriculture will not only be enhanced but also vocational abilities and career-based knowledge imparted to them so agriculture would be a desirable and relevant subject to the generation to come.

Education officials have approved the step, citing that exposing children to agricultural ideas at an early age can promote responsibility, creativity, and respect for sustainable methods among children.