Welding class funded by ag development money helps farmers learn a valuable time-saving skill

By JIM TRAMMEL, Kentucky Agricultural News

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund is helping Breckinridge County farmers learn welding skills, making their farm operations more efficient and profitable while helping fill a predicted nationwide welder shortage.

Breckinridge County High School adult-agriculture teacher Tim Carden trains farmers in basic welding techniques.

Welding is a useful income-enhancing skill for farmers, Carden said. Farmers can save money and time by performing their own welding on their equipment, facilities and machinery. The skill could also provide farmers a second income.

Carden was inspired by a similar Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) program. He was granted $7,480 for the first session to educate 12 students at Breckinridge County Vocational-Technical School.

Each student paid a $300 fee, Carden said, about half the cost of protective clothing and a personal welding machine.

He teaches the skills primarily for use on the farm, but at least three of Carden’s first 12 students are doing independent welding work or are employed in nearby industries.

A welder can earn from $16 to $30 an hour plus benefits, said Frank McKinley of Lexington, past president of the American Welding Society and co-founder of the Lexington chapter.

After the initial Breckinridge County class last year, 24 more Breckinridge County farmers signed up for 30-hour study courses beginning in January and February, Carden said.

Other grants Carden wrote have funded similar 12-student sessions in Hardin and Meade counties with a total investment of about $13,000. A grant for Grayson County is also being prepared, Carden said.

One of Carden’s farmer-students, beef cattle producer Carl B. Mitcham of Webster, said welding skills are useful for increasing a farmer’s efficiency. “Instead of leaving the farm and driving 20 minutes maybe twice to a welder’s shop for minor work, they can do it themselves,” Mitcham said.

Mitcham said the program is essential for acquiring adequate set-up skills and learning proper precautions. “If I had just bought a welder, I couldn’t have used it well,” Mitcham said.

These skills will help farmers cope with the ever-decreasing number of welding shops as trained welders grow fewer, McKinley said.

Kentucky and the nation are facing a shortage of an estimated 200,000 welders by 2010, McKinley said, quoting an industry overview recently published in The Wall Street Journal. The nation’s half-million welders average 55 years old, and many are planning retirement. The younger workers who would once have followed them into welding are now more likely to be training for careers in electronics or computer repair.

Restoring the nation’s neglected infrastructure will also create a rising demand for welders as their numbers fall, McKinley predicted.

The Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund was created by the Kentucky General Assembly in the 2000 session to invest half of Kentucky’s share of master tobacco settlement funds in agricultural development projects. The state had invested $279 million by the end of 2008. The Agricultural Development Board, which oversees the fund, is led by Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer and Gov. Steve Beshear.

Click here to read more about the success of the Agricultural Development Fund.