BLACKSBURG—Plenty of capable candidates with agricultural degrees are willing to fill the multiple vacant agriculture instructor roles open statewide.
But those provisional teachers often “lapse out” of temporary licensure. That’s because they don’t have a streamlined pathway to obtaining the complex licensure requirements to stay in the classroom, while simultaneously meeting the demands of sustaining a school agriculture program.
Virginia Farm Bureau Federation recently reported on the long-standing need to simplify the transition of graduates from college-to-classroom in a special online report.
It’s a nuanced issue with myriad control points, said professor Tracy Rutherford, head of Virginia Tech’s Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education.
“So that can make it very confusing, very frustrating and very disjointed for stakeholders,” she said. “A pathway to licensure with the fewest additional requirements is the goal.”
Integration of that goal starts in high school.
On the recruitment level, teachers and guidance counselors can encourage students to pursue teaching. Advisers should be informed of all certification options.
Two Virginia Tech degree programs are an internal pathway for students to attain licensure while still in college. Agriculture and Extension Education and Career and Technical-Agriculture Education degree programs prepare students for the demands among many school districts, from ag mechanics, safety or livestock handling, to lesson planning and classroom management.
“We’re starting to see those fruits,” said Sara Jo Jones, Carroll County ag instructor. “It will be a while before it all comes together.”
Virginia Tech is working closely with its School of Education to align those two academic programs, while marketing the undergraduate major and the teaching and learning minor.
“We have 13 Agriculture and Extension Education freshmen for fall 2025,” Rutherford noted. “That’s a great start!”
She said the committee also is focused on the alignment between community colleges and Virginia Tech to make attaining certification easier, including the creation of an active articulation model through Blue Ridge Community College.
Tweaks to endorsement requirements in the Code of Virginia might address persistent statewide teacher shortages in agriculture and career and technical education.
“We need more clarity in the variety of courses that meet the code and can be included in the degree programs,” Rutherford said. “And we need to streamline the code to realign with current education practices and provide non-credit alternatives that don’t cost teachers $30,000 to meet the expectations for certification.”
HB 1909, which would have established the Virginia Commission for Agricultural Education Excellence to address instructor shortages, was tabled by a subcommittee in January. The advisory commission would be administered, staffed and supported jointly by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Virginia Department of Education.
Despite that legislative setback, VDOE and VDACS have begun planning a series of meetings of stakeholders and subject matter experts, “which aims to accomplish much of the same purpose,” said VDACS Commissioner Joe Guthrie. “These discussions are being conducted within the context of a broader strategic planning initiative for agricultural education that is already ongoing under leadership from VDOE.”
VFBF delegates supported that bill to coordinate efforts between state agencies in developing curriculum guidelines to align with educational and workforce needs.
To retain provisional or rural ag instructors, community connection also matters, Rutherford said.
Stakeholders like Farm Bureau are obligated to be a welcoming resource in building partnerships with educators and supporting their ag programs, VFBF Vice President Robert J. Mills Jr. concluded.
“We will continue to foster connections between educators, farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector, while working to shape policies that benefit ag teachers and programs on the state level,” he said. “Meanwhile, we also advocate for a strong federal farm bill that benefits agricultural education nationwide.”
-Virginia Farm Bureau
