Influx of New PCAs Needed

A couple of years ago, the California Association of Pest Control Advisers (CAPCA) did a survey that showed nearly three-quarters of the state’s pest control advisers (PCAs) were 45 years of age or older, and that was up from 59% in 1999. Clearly some fresh blood was needed.

At about that same time, two PCAs who work with vegetable growers on the state’s central coast, Sean Morales of BASF and Jeremy Briscoe of Certis USA, returned to their alma mater, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, to talk to students. But they found it wasn’t so much that students weren’t interested in becoming PCAs, they weren’t even aware of the opportunities that were available.

Morales and Briscoe realized they needed to set up a program to inform and then hopefully recruit the next generation, and the Pathway to PCA program was born. Fund-raising for the program began in early 2008, the same year Morales and Briscoe were named CAPCA’s Members of the Year for their efforts. And then in 2009, the program’s first coordinator, Shannon Douglass, was hired.

Twice As Many Needed

A 2005 graduate of Cal State-Chico, Douglass is a natural for the job. She had been working for the university as an outreach coordinator, working to increase the number of applicants to the College of Agriculture, and she enjoys talking to young people about her love for agriculture. She also has a great starting point, being someone who can talk up tremendous job opportunities in the face of huge unemployment rates.

With the graying of the state’s PCAs, the need for young people is obvious. Up until about two years ago, says Douglass, the number of PCAs retiring each year was double the number of people getting their licenses. “It’s not so recently because everyone’s 401(k) crashed,” she says. “But the retirements only slowed because of the economy.”

Obviously, when the economy picks up, so will the demand for PCAs. Because of that, Douglass has been going to colleges, saving trips to high schools — which she eventually believes will have the greatest overall impact — for future years. “We want to get this void filled sooner (than it would normally take), so I’ve been focusing on the college students,” she says. “There’s just so much demand for them.”

Financial Rewards

Like Morales and Briscoe, she’s been finding that most students, even those pursuing degrees in agriculture, are unaware of the opportunities. “A lot of students want to go into ag, but they don’t know what they want to do,” she says, though she doesn’t limit her talks to aggies. “We want the career to be of interest to students who don’t normally have an ag background, who have a strong interest in science, and say, ‘Hey, there are a lot of opportunities for you.'”

As might be expected, starting salary is a big point of interest. Many are surprised that it can be financially rewarding to be a PCA, says Douglass. “It varies hugely, so it’s hard to go into numbers, but in general, the starting pay is great,” she says. “Young people can do really well in this field.”

Don’t Forget The Fun

The pay varies a lot in part because the nature of the job can vary a lot. Two people can both be PCAs, but can have very different jobs. For example, while many think of PCAs as employees of big companies who put tens of thousands of miles on their pick-ups in driving around to check on crops, some PCAs work for cities and do hardly any traveling at all. “Yes, you can work for Simplot, or Helena, or Wilbur-Ellis,” she says. “But you can also be on your own, or on one large farm, or work only on certain crops — there’s a variety of opportunities.”‘

There’s one last thing about being a PCA that Douglass learned she was neglecting after a recent presentation to some college students. “A PCA said I wasn’t emphasizing enough what a fun job it is,” she says. “Also, they work outside in a job where every day is different. A lot of PCAs can’t imagine being stuck inside at a 9-to-5 job all day.”