By Krisy Gashler
Julia Smith ’99 worked as an agricultural education teacher for almost 20 years before moving into the New York dairy processing industry. In those roles, she’s seen a mismatch: young people who are interested in producing food but don’t know how to break in, and dairy processing companies desperate for workers but can’t find enough applicants to fill rapidly increasing manufacturing jobs.
“People walk into McDonald’s and Walmart all the time, so they understand that there’s work there. People don’t often walk into dairy processing plants, so there’s an unawareness of this opportunity,” Smith said. “For an entry-level job at one of our plants, you can walk in with a high school diploma and earn $22-23 an hour with full benefits and retirement to start with. We just need more people to walk in.”
Smith is director of learning and development for Upstate Niagara Cooperative, one of the largest dairy farm cooperatives in the Northeast. She’s also one of the key industry partners for Cornell’s dairy workforce training initiatives. Cornell has supported New York’s dairy industry since its founding as the state’s land-grant university, but recent industry investments in dairy processing – $3 billion in upstate facilities newly opened or under construction – have supercharged the need to train and educate workers in this field.
“Because of our very close connections with the dairy industry in New York state, we had been hearing from lots of processors for some time that workforce was a huge problem for them,” said Nicole Martin, assistant research professor of dairy foods microbiology.
Source : cornell.edu