11-30 FB Ag-Boomers

The Far West Agribusiness Association recently launched a new feature on its website to match companies with college interns looking to break into the agriculture business. Association executive director Jim Fitzgerald said the program grew out of a board meeting discussion about the number of baby boomers who will retire in the next five to 10 years.

“You are looking for college interns who are trying to break into the agricultural business. You are right, it seems that at least in the last 3 or 4 years some of the opportunities in industries that have been hiring his medicine or agriculture. Agriculture is not only up and stable but it has actually fallen on some pretty good times. Commodity prices and yields have increased and as we have a growing population and emerging countries that I now able to buy a better food source for their people for their people, namely proteins, it has affected the agricultural economy and there is a future for it for people who are interested in agribusiness. Years ago everybody wanted somebody who was born and raised on the farm but there is a limited number of those people. The two-year and four-year colleges are doing an excellent job of providing a world-class education to young people who want to enter agriculture whether it’s specialized like in agronomy or  if it’s something that is more common to business like human resource or logistics or safety or regulatory or some of those other items that’s support an agribusiness.”