A recent survey suggested that students’ interest in careers in the agricultural industry are low, and only 3% of college graduates had considered a career in agriculture. However, AgCareers.com is seeing different trends, with a 33% growth in the number of visits to www.AgCareers.com in the past year. AgCareers.com has seen strong interest even from candidates with no ag background or degree. In 2015, 35% of AgCareers.com applicants had a non-ag degree and 38% were currently or most recently employed outside of agriculture.
“While we (AgCareers.com) are a niche career site serving the agriculture industry, our vision is to feed the world with talent,” said Eric Spell, AgCareers.com President. The AgCareers.com online community is a central place where the Ag industry can showcase the broad range of careers available.
“The ag industry will always need talent with traditional agriculture backgrounds and education, but the industry also has solid career paths for people that do not have ag backgrounds or ag degrees. Enrollments in colleges of agriculture across the US are at all-time highs, but we as an industry need to take great pride that the industry we serve also has a high demand for talent with interest in career paths such as supply chain, finance, human resources, engineering, IT, and safety,” added Spell.
There is a perception that all agricultural jobs are traditional on-farm positions when in reality there are numerous other opportunities. Looking at the career types of positions posted on AgCareers.com, sales, technicians, business development, accounting and specialists are all in the top ten. Sharing the agriculture story with students in all majors is key to building the pipeline of talent to the industry.
“As a college student majoring in public relations, we discuss what industry we want to go into in all of my classes. I had many interests but never considered or thought about agriculture until I interned in Iowa last summer with AgCareers.com,” said University of Florida student, Victoria Price.
“During my internship I learned that the agricultural industry has many opportunities for not only my public relations degree, but also many others including technology, finance and engineering.” After returning to school in the fall of 2015, Price decided to add a minor focusing in agriculture given her new found understanding of careers in the industry.
“I now look forward to a career in communications within agriculture. I am excited to use my skills working for an industry that strives toward feeding the world and working for something beyond myself. I tell all of my peers how important agriculture is and the opportunities it provides; I am now an Agvocate!” added Price.
The survey mentioned was conducted by ORC International on behalf of Land O’Lakes, Inc.