Northern ag degree ranked 11th in nation

Montana State University-Northern was ranked number 11 nationally for its agriculture program by Learn.org for the 50 Best Agriculture Degrees in the 2020-2021 school year.

Northern College of Technical Sciences Dean David Krueger said he’s very excited about the program being ranked 11th.

“Very excited that we are — not surprised that we should be — but very excited that we were recognized that way,” Krueger said.

Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel said getting a recognition such that is an honor they like to celebrate, that somebody has noticed the good, hard work they’ve done.

“We love it,” Kegel said. “It’s just something that we are very proud of. It’s something we all aspire to is to be the best.”

He said he challenges every program to make it the best in the United States.

Krueger said the agriculture program at Northern includes a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture operations technology, an associate degree in agriculture technology and a minor in agriculture.

Northern also offers an associate degree in agriculture mechanics, one of few institutions that offers that program, he said.

“Because of flexibility of our program, the breadth of the degrees that we offer, and that our degrees are very general … our students could go to work in the animal industry, they could go into the plant industry, they could become a crop scout for a crop company or work for 406 Ag right down here in Havre, or you go to work for big cooperatives,” Krueger said. 

With their solid generals education and a variety of complementary minor and majors, Northern’s ag program graduates could work in financial institutions, as well, he said, or in Extension, the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Land Management.

There is such a broad area in agriculture, he said, some students will go back and start up their own farms, ranches or other ag businesses.

“The sky is really the limit,” Krueger said. “There is so many opportunities, and with agriculture being one of our No. 1 industries in our state and across the country, there’s just a lot of room for any graduates to finish.”

He said for anyone who finishes the agriculture program and gets their degree, opportunities are waiting for them.

“If a student wants a job in agriculture we can get a job in agriculture somewhere,” Krueger said.

He added that Northern’s ag program has a graduation rate close to 100 percent.

Morgaine Milligin said she is majoring in ag operations technology with a minor in business operations.

She said she chose this major to go back home to Colorado and work in policy development and protecting peoples’ right to farm.

“It’s always been a really close thing to my heart, and I want to see agriculture prosper throughout the years, and not get shut down,” Milligin said.

She said the program also brings in a lot of outside and current events into the classroom.

“We talk about the problems that are going on now, and we don’t just use a single textbook every year, teaching the same thing repeatedly,” Milligin said. “As the years go and as new troubles come up, we adapt to those and we learn accordingly to those. When we get out of here we are going to be on par with what’s going on with agriculture versus just going off a book that was written 25 years ago.”

Ag program student Lucas Roderick said he is majoring in ag operations technology.

He said he chose this major because his family owns a cattle ranch.

“I just want to be able to carry it on and be able to know what I’m supposed to be doing in order to keep it running,” Roderick said.

Senior Geri Copenhaver said she is in the ag program with a minor in accounting.

She said she thinks the ag program at Northern is very unique.

“Unlike other schools where you have to choose kind of right off the bat … with an ag operations degree you literally get everything, so then you can decide later on if you do want to further that, ‘Oh, I really, really like doing animal science stuff. I want to keep doing animal science, maybe I want to be a vet.’ You can go and do that instead of, maybe, you chose animal science at a different school and you really like business more,” Copenhaver said. “I think it’s really unique that you get to do all the different things instead of just having that one focus, and then you can kind of focus with your minor what you want.”

Fourth-year student Garrett Depner said he is majoring in ag operations technology and has has two associate degrees in ag mechanics and ag technology.

“The main thing about this ag degree is it is so general and so spread across, it literally breeds students to where they can go home and farm, ranch and they can carry a job in town to help fund … costs that come along for farming and ranching, and even when you have a family,” Depner said. “It breeds people who want to work and carry two forms of income.

“We as ag students would like to thank Bill Danley who taught for 45 years and Thomas Welch for his 38 years of teaching and together building such a great program,” he added “We also want to thank our current professor Brianna Nelson in her work and ability to keep this program and our Ag Club going.”

Fifth-year student Riley Mortenson said she is double-majoring in ag operations technology and business administration.

She said one of her favorite classes was ag tech management.

“In that class, we did a lot of cash flow analysis and the appreciation of farm equipment and whatnot, so with that I was able to also relate it to my business degree and helped me on the business side of things,” Mortenson said. “So for me, that class was very dual-purpose with both my ag and business degrees.”