Abstract

Because the world’s population continues to escalate rapidly, producing an abundance of food and fiber is of utmost importance. This revelation has implications for Americans being agriculturally literate. Agricultural literacy research has been conducted primarily at the pre-college level; however, little exists at the post-secondary level. This study, therefore, sought to assess the agricultural literacy of incoming freshmen students at Oklahoma State University. It was found that students in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources scored statistically significantly better than their counterparts in other colleges regarding their agricultural knowledge. However, they scored only 61% correct on the agricultural literacy test, resulting in a rather insufficient knowledge base. Collectively, incoming freshmen students across the university campus did not possess a passing knowledge (i.e., 70%) of basic agricultural principles. The findings of this study point to the imperative for higher education faculty to educate students about the importance of agriculture and its significance for the United States and the world.