Why did I choose Agriculture: The Philippines being on the tropical zone and being an agricultural country made me choose this course. It would teach me the know-hows of being an agriculturist especially, the profitability of the different crops and to study policies in agriculture

About my college education: I'm a graduate of BS Agriculture major in Agricultural Economics. I learned a lot! I was able to differentiate the different plants and their usefulness. I learned the how to's of animal production as we always have hand-on activities. As an Ag. Economics graduate, I learned how to compute cost, returns and profits in plant and animal production. On a macro level, I learned how to do forecasting of prices of commodities using various statistical techniques.

Agricultural chemistry was the most difficult for me. The most useful things I learned was on data analysis and forecasting. There were subjects where passing the exam was difficult. Sometime students failed or got low scores. Shifting to another course was sometimes done.



My current job: I was a university researcher until last year when I retired from UPLB. As a researcher, I did agricultural policy research work and part of it is to go out on the field, visit agricultural institutions and talk to stakeholders of the research I am doing to gather data and information to analyze. I was also given the task of teaching the course on data analysis for public affairs. After working in the university, I continued working at home on projects of the university by analyzing survey data which I love to do and so I enjoy doing it until now.

Am I using what I learned in college: Yes, as agricultural policy analyst, we have to take stocks of information and data to be analyzed. I used and still using the statistical techniques I learned in college in my work as a researcher and as data analyst.

How long did it take to find a job: After graduation I was hired immediately. As employers already came to us before our graduation and were told that we were already hired in their institution.

Do I recommend studying Agriculture: Nowadays, agriculture graduates, especially of UP Los Baños, become managers of big agricultural companies, become professors, or do research work in agriculture.

It is an interesting and fulfilling career as you will have contribution to our country because the Philippines has many agricultural resources,

Advice to people who are thinking of studying this course: One should have a passion in taking the course. One should always focus in his studies. Study hard, lessen computer games and social networking (like FB) and be attentive to professors