Ag Retail Workforce

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Even the age of automation and artificial intelligence, businesses still need good people to serve customers. This is especially true in ag retail, where they’re finding fewer graduates with agricultural backgrounds, says the executive vice president of operations at MFA Incorporated, Jason Weirich.

Weirich... "That talent base that we are getting out of our universities continues to shrink. That talent pool continues to shrink. And I think one of the things that we're seeing too is that the amount of kids that are coming off the farm that go to college and then are looking for a job in the industry, is getting fewer and far between. So finding that person that has on-farm knowledge, the basic understanding of how a farm works, is getting fewer and far between."

MFA Incorporated is expanding their talent pool by hiring more candidates who come from non-traditional ag backgrounds.

Weirich... " What we're doing is we see a lot of folks coming into ag retail sector or into our universities that are from urban areas or city that have never been on a farm or have not, did not grow up on a farm, I should say. Maybe involved in FFA or 4-H through a local county or school, but have got the desire and education to help our producers."

Again, that’s Jason Weirich of MFA Incorporated.