A roundtable recap.

The 2006 AgCareers.com U.S. Ag HR Roundtable brought together nearly 150 human resources, university career services, and association professionals from agribusiness organizations throughout the U.S.

The conference, held last month in St. Louis, MO, began by asking participants to identify areas of improvement that as an industry need to be addressed to improve recruiting and retention of talented employees within the agribusiness industry.

RECRUITMENT

Participants pointed out that we need to begin recruiting students at an earlier age, and the reality is that high school may not be early enough. According to research conducted by guest speaker, Andy Overbay, Virginia Cooperative Extension, half of the students surveyed in his study had decided what they wanted to do for a living between first and ninth grade.

Several participants stated that kids begin to develop this limited view of career possibilities within agriculture through toys, games, and songs. Keynote speaker, Dir Fred Ferrell of the Missouri Department of Agriculture, proved this point by donning his bib overalls and straw hat, and playing the traditional barnyard animal sounds from a child's toy.

Dr. Levon Esters, Iowa State University, shared with participants the importance of educating parents, particularly the female guardian, when talking with students about their career choices in agribusiness. Parents are the number one influencer in a child's educational and career choice process.

RETENTION

Guest speaker, Pete Heidelberg with Monsanto, shared the on-boarding process that Monsanto has recently launched. Part of this system involves a mentoring program, which participants agreed is a critical part.

Compensation and salary also need to be in line not only with competitive companies, but more importantly with other industries. AgCareers.com launched the agribusiness Compensation Benchmark Review (CBR), which will provide agribusiness employers a tool that will allow them to compare compensation packages of specific roles to other like companies. The agribusiness CBR will be administered for AgCareers.com by Rimfire Resources.

BRANDING OF AGRICULTURE

In the end, participants agreed that the agribusiness industry suffers from a branding issue. Speaker, Jim Welch of The Growth Leader Inc., charged the group up by giving an outside perspective of how important and privileged the agribusiness industry can make employees feel about their jobs.

As a marketer within the industry, can you further your contribution by encouraging a young person to get involved in agribusiness? Could you arrange for your company to sponsor a 4-H event? Or, maybe it is bringing your child to work? There are many ways for us to improve the overall brand of agriculture among our youth and ensure that we have the best and brightest.

To be included on the 2007 Ag HR Roundtable mailing list or for more information on the agribusiness CBR, e-mail [e-mail].