Agtech In Farming Sept 7

Mike Stephens

News Reporter

Collaboration is Key to developing an Agtech Workforce

More than 150 tech experts, educators, government leaders and agricultural stakeholders gathered during the AgtechX Ed Summit at Reedley College last Wednesday to discuss how to transition the ag workforce to master rapidly developing on-farm technology. The half-day event resulted in new and innovative ideas for upskilling the agricultural workforce to meet critical labor needs, with “collaboration” ranking as the top solution.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go in it together,” said Karen Ross, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Secretary, during her keynote session.

Several key takeaways from the conference are,

• Understanding software applications.

• The second language youth need to learn is coding.

• Getting young people into agriculture and getting them to stay.

• Upscaling the workforce and transitioning it to be more tech-savvy.

• Educators need to replicate the environment that students will actually face in the field to give them the skills needed to be successful when they graduate.