Workforce Worries

Not too long ago, I happened across an online article focusing on the increasingly shrinking pool of workers available (or desiring) to seek employment in the agricultural world-at-large. According to this article, most market watchers expect this situation to worsen in the coming decades.

Of course, I had to chuckle at least a little bit at this story. For ag retailers, workforce worries have been a continual problem throughout the entire 15 years I’ve covered the marketplace — and this “finding good employees” worry existed long before that time based upon old articles I’ve seen in our predecessor magazine Farm Chemicals.

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If anything, the problem of finding and keeping good workers has gotten even more pronounced since the 21st century began. Each year when our magazine compiles its list of the most pressing challenges facing ag retailers in the CropLife 100 report, finding good employees almost always ranks as the No. 1 or No. 2 problem.

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To illustrate this point even further, consider this month’s cover story focusing on GROWMARK, Inc. As the nation’s third largest ag retail organization in sales volume, GROWMARK has spent the past half-century actively recruiting college students as part of a summer intern program.

But on top of this, the company has added several other initiatives to attract what it calls “blue-chippers” to work for the organization, including the founding of the Center for Leader­ship Development spearheaded by GROWMARK’s CEO Jim Spradlin.

To me, however, it seems as if this quest for new employees by ag retailers shouldn’t be that difficult. After all, the long-term career path opportunities presented by today’s ag retail marketplace are much different than they were in the past.

And potential talent can certainly be convinced that this is the case. At the annual Mid America CropLife Association meeting this past fall, I got the chance to hear testimonies from one dozen students that had just completed some tours of duty with agricultural companies. “I really enjoyed working with Co-Alliance because I got to do a lot of direct work with the farmers themselves,” said Purdue University student Nolan Sampson.

Another student, Kelsey Mussman from the University of Minnesota, also appreciated her time at an ag retailer. “When I was working for Genesis Coop, they were so flexible in what I was interested in doing,” said Mussman.

The most encouraging comment, however, came from a South Dakota State University student. “I didn’t grow up with a farming background, so everything I did with agricultural education was a big learning experience,” said Jade Kampsen. “I realized that this was the best class of my life!”

Obviously, every company doing business within agriculture needs to reach potential employees such as this. It’s really the only way the workforce worries will ever improve some.

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