Maybe you also felt that you crossed a finish line, that the time for learning had passed. But this is a risky mindset.

Research shows that our brains are neuroplastic. This means that the brain can continuously change, adapt and grow neural networks based on our experiences — which means that we can keep learning throughout our lives. So, we can and should “teach an old dog new tricks.”

And because change is a constant in today’s world it also means that we will never cross the learning finish line. We should be open to learning every day of our lives.

• RELATED: Beliefs your farm could be better without

But the realization that you will never be done learning can be complicated — especially when you have just absorbed a large amount of information in a structured, formal setting. You might just want to rest on the knowledge you dedicated so much time and resources to accumulate and stop being a student for a while.

This is especially true if you are returning to your family’s business and want to prove that you aren’t a kid anymore.

Your challenge is to share the knowledge you gained, while simultaneously reminding yourself and others that there is still a lot to learn. Everyone can be vulnerable to “you don’t know what you don’t know.” We can get caught in situations where we have little or no knowledge and end up making assumptions. And while making incorrect assumptions is risky, we can learn to manage the outcome.

Many people won’t admit when they don’t know an answer, or worse, will confidently chime in with their comments, whether it’s their area of expertise or not. So, how can you be a valued contributor without spouting off on topics about which you have little or no expertise?

You can take responsibility for several areas of personal growth, learn to understand yourself, build leadership skills and work toward becoming who you want to be in your business and personal life.

Try these approaches to help you become a trusted source of information and, consequently, a trusted business partner:

1 Be prepared to admit when you don’t know an answer but be equally committed to finding the solution. This may sound simple, but it is difficult to implement, especially when you are attempting to prove your worth as part of the farm team. As a former manager once said to me, “If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.” But what does it sound like to consistently own what you don’t know? “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” It is surprisingly freeing to not have every answer and it’s pleasantly satisfying to know that you will find it — and learn in the process.

2 Own your mistakes and clean up quickly. This is also easy to say and hard to do, particularly when working with family who may tease or shame you for errors. Even when committed to admitting when you don’t know the answer, there will be times when you will confidently share the wrong information. When you realize your mistake, go back to the team and own up to your error. This is a quality of a good leader. A team culture in which individuals can admit errors without being punished frees everyone in the group to follow that example.

3 Practice lifelong learning. All your life experience and education to date is just the beginning, not the finish line. Being aware of the knowledge and expertise you currently possess means that you can always be on the lookout for what else you might want to learn. None of us will ever know everything, but as an individual, you can:

• Surround yourself with a network of people from whom you want to learn.
• Access the incredible amount of information available at your fingertips through technology.
• Stay consistently curious and build a habit of asking thoughtful questions.

(For more self-awareness and self-reflection tips, visit page 28 of The Future Leader: The Successor’s Guide to Family Business Leadership.)

Rest assured that you will bring an amazing amount of knowledge and insights to your farm during your lifetime.

The real opportunity will be to continually build your base of understanding, embrace the reality that there will be missteps, and realize that no situation in which you’ve learned is a waste.

To benefit you and your family enterprise, add those experiences to your knowledge bank, admit when you’ve made a mistake and lead with a commitment to growth.

– Patti Durand is a strategic action planner, speaker and author of The Future Leader: The Successor’s Guide to Family Business Leadership. pattidurand.ca.

The post You don’t know what you don’t know appeared first on Country Guide.

Or, you can take a somewhat simpler approach. Ask yourself what skills training you’d like to enrol in. Ask your family members what courses they’d like to take too, plus any employees.

In fact, summer is a great time to raise the issue. Flag it with everyone right after the spring rush, letting the whole team know you’ll want to hear their thoughts in a few weeks. You may even flip them a list of web links to help. Then stick to your deadline, since this will give you the lead time to apply for courses early enough to ensure your team members get in.

You might object that letting your team members choose their education program means they’ll pick up the skills that they want rather than the skills that the farm would prioritize the most. But is that really a downside? The skills that your team members would volunteer for are probably skills that they would enjoy and that they feel they would be successful at, so they’d actually put them to work.

It’s also helps the entire team keep the value of education top of mind. This in turns creates value that Heather Watson, executive director of Farm Management Canada, has no doubt about.

“We know from our research that a commitment to lifelong learning and skills development is the number one practice differentiating Canada’s top and bottom performing farms,” Watson says.

And there’s more, Watson adds, especially if you look at developing the farm’s business skills. “What we need to do is get into the mindset of building our capacity to proactively plan ahead and seize opportunity through business skills development. We know that farmers who focus on their farm business management practices enjoy increased profitability, confidence, peace of mind, and family and farm-team harmony.”

Farmers can also weave education into some of the other management strategies they’ve already embraced, as we hear from Heather Broughton, principal of Agri-Food Management Excellence, who teaches in the CTEAM (Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management) executive management program.

“As part of the strategic planning process, we sit down with farmers and do an internal analysis that is a review of people, processes, finance and assets, and we look at what’s working and not working, which includes the education piece,” Broughton says.

Plus, Broughton says, “For farms that have implemented performance reviews (i.e. for farm owners, family and employees), these can also be useful to help identify education needs… the reviews can identify some things that they can set out as goals, and what they want to do in the year ahead to build their skills.”

But there is also the overall sense that many farmers have that their days are full of dealing with topics that they would like to have greater command over.

“Farming is big business,” says Broughton.

“When you look at the values, the capital investments, all the risks that we face, people have to have the skills under their belt to manage all these things,” she explains. “Your team, whether it’s you, your spouse, your kids or your employees; your human resources are one of your most valuable assets, so it’s important to build, develop and leverage their skills.”

What are the common areas where farms often seek specific development or training with? Or should?

Broughton says setting goals is vital to prioritize and target the exact kind of learning that busy farmers will get the most benefit from.

“When you have $25 canola it’s pretty awesome, but as (commodity prices) drop, you’ve got to have some good marketing knowledge and skills for the risk management piece,” Broughton says. “Similarly, going back to the financial, with high interest rates you need to have knowledge of how to understand the impact to the business’s financial position and structure when making decisions. These are key pieces of learning that we find people are really interested in.”

Figuring out the knowledge gaps that need filling means evaluating the roles and responsibilities of everyone on the farm team (yourself included). Typically, these should be outlined in job descriptions. And again, if you don’t currently have them, there are online resources — such as the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council’s (CAHRC) AgriHR Toolkit that has over 60 job description templates that can be downloaded and customized to fit your operation.

If you do have current job descriptions, are they clearly documented and up-to-date? Do they reflect the actual tasks that everyone does today, or the changing needs of the farm? For example, has the farm recently adopted new production or agronomy practices, technology or management systems that require new or different skill sets?

Thinking about the future of the farm, do you have a strategic plan in place? Even if you don’t, though, how do you see the farm changing over the next five to 10 years, and what training or skills are needed to implement those changes? Do you have the capacity to train existing people to take on those tasks and roles, or are these things you will need to either contract out or hire new employees to do?

“Because I like it”

But an education and learning plan doesn’t always have to be about developing business or job-related skills, Broughton says.

“Sometimes people just have a personal interest in terms of this is what I want to do better,” she says. “Or if it’s something that builds your confidence, that’s an important piece too, so it’s worth thinking about both personal and professional development.”

When doing an education analysis and planning for learning, it’s worth thinking beyond today to what future skills might be needed, and whether those skills need to be provided in-house or could be outsourced.

“We have a saying in farm management — do your best, and hire the rest,” adds Watson. “We tend to perform our best when we’re focusing on the things we love to do. That doesn’t mean we can ignore the other stuff that needs to get done, but find others who are passionate and experts in those things to leverage your collective strengths.”

Using the summer to anticipate the farm’s future human resource and knowledge requirements allows you to start sourcing the resources to meet those needs ahead of time, and to schedule training or off-farm education during less busy times instead of always trying to play catch-up and learn things on the fly when things get hectic.

Then, says Watson, “Winter is an excellent time to focus on farm business management — reflecting post-harvest on what went well and areas for improvement.”

What type of training?

How do you seek out the type of training your farm needs?

Doing a thorough assessment of your farm’s business skills and practices will help determine the areas you may wish to prioritize for training and for whom, but remember that not everyone learns the same way or has the time and capacity to participate in certain types of training.

“While a classroom setting might work for some, it might not work for others,” Watson says. “Likewise with virtual training options. The good news is there are plenty of skills development and training opportunities available from self-directed online learning, articles, webinars and the like, as well as one-day workshops, one-week courses, mentorship opportunities, and multi-year programs that may use a combination of in-person and virtual training.”

Watson advises farm owners or managers to look at the opportunities available and what works best for everyone who needs to take training.

“Taking time away from the farm can help create a more focused learning environment where you’re not distracted by who’s coming into the farmyard, but this may not always be feasible,” Watson says. “Of course, it’s worth looking into how you can create capacity on the farm, for those who would benefit from skills development opportunities to be able to do so.”

How do you prioritize learning and skills development on a busy farm?

Watson says that prioritizing education on a busy farm comes down to three things: The values, beliefs and attitudes towards education (otherwise known as the culture) of the farm, proactive planning, and building the capacity to take advantage of learning opportunities.

“In terms of the farm’s culture, is education held in high regard on the farm?” Watson asks. “What about lifelong learning and continuous skills development?”

Assess if, when someone leaves the farm to participate in a workshop or conference, this is valued by everyone on the farm or seen as a holiday off the farm? Ensure there is some mechanism (or create one) so when they come back, they can share their insights and skills gained with others.

To plan for learning, does the farm have defined goals in a business plan?

“Once the skills needed to fulfil the current and future needs of the farm and its team are identified, you can put a skills development plan in place as part of the overall business plan for the farm to achieve its goals,” Watson says. “There is also training available to help you identify your business goals and create a business plan.”

The cost of off-farm time

The last component is capacity, which means not just the financial means to pay for training, but whether members of the farm team, and in particular the manager or management team, can afford, or think they can afford, to take time away from the farm.

“One of the signs of successful farm management is the capacity for members of the farm team to leave for extended periods of time, while the farm continues to tick along just fine,” Watson says.

If you are not confident that can happen, then part of the skills development plan needs to include training others in the skills they need to step into your shoes and do the day-to-day management tasks proficiently, if only for a short period.

As times get tougher, it can be hard to allocate money for training and skills development, but arguably, that’s when those skills are needed the most.

What can a commitment to learning do for your farm?

Every winter, Jamie Christie has a goal that he will participate in some kind of learning program.

“Within my own personal development, it’s about being disciplined and being consistent that I take on some kind of learning opportunity for myself,” he says.

In 2016 Christie completed the CTEAM program (Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management) offered by Agri-Food Management Excellence. The last two winters he took leadership training with Kelly Dobson of LeaderShift and this past winter he participated in Syngenta Canada’s Grower University through Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre in London, Ontario.

Now Christie, who is the fourth-generation owner of the 5,000-acre Arn Brae Farms near Trochu, Alberta, extends that mentality to the whole farm team as well, including employees.

“I try to make them stretch and grow a bit every year, and sometimes we stretch and grow in different directions. I wouldn’t say our employees get the opportunities to do the same things that I do, but the 20-year-old that comes on as a labourer, if he’s going to stay here, I expect him to get his Class 1 this winter or get a spray operator licence. They are expected to grow.”

Although on his farm there isn’t a formal education plan written down, Christie expects that anyone working on the farm will be committed to ongoing learning, and anyone joining the farm also knows they will be supported to help them learn new skills.

“When we are screening for new employees, we look for the drive that they have for it,” he says. “We try to find the personalities that fit our goals more than just their skillset.”

Education and training, whether it’s at the management or owner level or at the employee level, is an important asset to the farm, but it’s hard to measure or quantify. Still, Christie believes its value shows up daily in so many different aspects that contribute to the operation of a successful farm.

“When you start creating momentum, that shows up every day in your business,” he says. “Your experience, your network shows up in everyday communications, so when we sit down with the banker, it’s more like a partnership because you have proven that you’re consistent in what your goals are and that you achieve them. You have to have experience to have that trust, but to have that trust you also have to go out and be in that experience.”

As the farm has matured, the business needs have changed and that has also altered the focus of Christie’s learning goals.

“When I started out at CTEAM, it’s pretty broad-based, and we looked at finance, HR, governance and succession planning,” Christie says. “Now that our succession plan is pretty well complete within our farm, we’re looking at personal development, which is why I did the leadership courses the last couple of years. That was just personal growth.”

It’s also important to approach learning without too many preconceptions about what it’s going to teach you, Christie adds, because the unexpected “surprises” within can often be the most valuable.

“With the leadership program, we went on a totally different journey than I expected,” he says. “But once I got halfway through it, it caused me to stretch and grow a lot but it wasn’t quite what I thought I was signing up for. That program really has had a lot of value, and more impact in a lot of different ways. In business today, sometimes just being present in those opportunities presents other opportunities that you weren’t aware of. Without being present you wouldn’t have known.”

And the financial investment, in relation to the return on that investment, is small.

“Overall, the time and financial commitment of personal development is rather small in scale for what modern agriculture is today,” Christie says. “To get a return on a $6,000 or $7,000 program, you just need to show up differently, or react more positively with one employee in one afternoon… it’s a big payback.”

The networks you build through the programs also add value, he adds. “The people that you’re interacting with are curious and driven.”

Christie has seen huge benefits to his own farm and has also been fascinated by the progress of his peers.

“The sustainability of their lifestyles has really changed since I met them five or six years ago,” Christie says. “What they said they were going to do three years ago, that you thought was a grand, large scheme, they actually exceeded. It has always fascinated me that people with the drive, who focus on their goals, they achieve them sooner than they expect and usually in larger and grander scale.”

– This article was originally published in the April 2024 issue of Country Guide.

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Prairie agricultural equipment manufacturers, which are often located in smaller communities, are feeling that pinch as severely as anyone.

The Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC), an association representing that industry, has been working on behalf of its membership to address the problem.

In a joint announcement today, AMC and the Saskatchewan government unveiled a new program to help encourage people to consider careers in agriculture and agricultural equipment manufacturing.

A new high-tech “Careers in Ag Mobile Skills Lab” will begin a summer tour of Saskatchewan at Ag in Motion July 16 to 18 to help develop a “talent pipeline” for ag and ag equipment manufacturing.

The program is getting $300,000 from the Saskatchewan government.

According to the announcement, the Careers in Ag Mobile Skills Lab will utilize “virtual reality technology and other educational tools across multiple experiential learning stations. Individuals will have the unique opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the experience of a career in this dynamic industry.”

While AMC specifically represents ag equipment manufacturers, ag equipment dealers might benefit from this initiative as well. Dealers have also been vocal about the difficulty they’ve had in recruiting employees, especially skilled technicians.

“Without question, this is one of the largest challenges our industry is facing,” COO and President of the North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA) John Schmeiser said late last year. “We survey our dealers once a year about what’s keeping them awake at night when it comes to workforce development, and the shortage of technicians is there.

“In that same survey, based on our dealers ’existing capacity without building a larger shop, every dealer would take three to five mechanics right now if they could find them. When you multiply that by 400 locations in Western Canada alone, it’s a shortage of what we need right now of 1,000, perhaps 1,500. That’s dealing with today’s needs, not taking into consideration what the future needs would be as well as attrition rates of older folks retiring or moving on to other industries.”

The Careers in Ag Mobile Skills Lab will make stops in several communities, visiting schools, career fairs and trade shows to showcase career opportunities. It will also focus on those already involved in the ag equipment industry to promote professional development opportunities.

“Agricultural manufacturers play an important role in driving our provincial economy and employ people in communities across Saskatchewan,” said Minister of Immigration and Career Training Jeremy Harrison in the release. “Saskatchewan is a leader in innovative agriculture and this investment ensures that agricultural equipment manufacturers will continue to attract the talent needed to support their growth.”

As newer generations enter the workforce and older ones slowly move into retirement, popular career interests tend to change. So, the Mobile Skills Lab will be a tool to promote enthusiasm for the ag equipment manufacturing industry and point out the benefits of working in it.

“Attracting the next generation of Canada’s workforce requires key messaging and engaging projects that speak to the minds and hearts of that talent,” said AMC President Donna Boyd. “From long-term career stability to protecting the environment and ensuring global food security, our industry has proven itself to be an ideal match for any Canadian looking for a stable and exciting career. AMC is proud to address the needs of our members and the industry at large with the Careers in Ag initiative. In working with the Saskatchewan Government to build and launch the Mobile Skills Lab, we are making great strides in matching our industry’s growth with the talented workforce it needs to sustain it.”

—Updated 10:35 CDT, adds photo of AMC president Donna Boyd.

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Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITC-C) has partnered with CropLife Canada to develop interactive teaching resources designed to help students explore some of the realities of modern farming by seeing how to successfully grow carrots, turnips and potatoes.

The resources draw on CropLife Canada’s Real Farm Lives documentary web series, which was created to showcase the work and lives of farm families across the country.

“Teachers play an instrumental role in shaping the future of our next generation by guiding students towards a deeper understanding and appreciation of the vital role agriculture has to play in our lives,” Mathieu Rouleau, Executive Director of AITC-C, said in a news release. “By fostering a deeper understanding of our agriculture and food system, we empower students to become informed citizens and stewards of our planet’s future.”

Season 3 of Real Farm Lives, which these resources are focused on, features the McKenna family from Prince Edward Island, who are deeply committed to growing high-quality food for their family and families across the country while leaving the land in better condition for the next generation.

Both AITC-C and CropLife Canada said they believe in providing accurate, balanced and current information to educators to promote agriculture education in Canadian classrooms. Resources like these help students build knowledge around key ideas such as food preparation, food waste and crop protection.

“We know that fewer and fewer kids have a direct connection to the farm. Through Real Farm Lives, we’ve provided an easy and engaging way for Canadians to look inside the lives of Canadian farm families and what it takes to grow our food.

“By connecting students with real farmers who sustainably grow safe, high-quality food, we hope they learn about some of the obstacles farmers have to tackle and the tools they need to do their jobs,” said Pierre Petelle, president and CEO, of CropLife Canada.

The post Ag resources for teachers released appeared first on Country Guide.

“We are currently seeking eligible partners across Canada that have existing training programs that may be in need of further refinement or support,” it said in an emailed newsletter.

Eligible organizations can access funding between Feb. 1 and March 31 of this year, CAHRC’s website says. The training programs must be ready for delivery so participants may finish them by the end of March.

Funding may be used for things like enhancement of programs and materials, funding to deliver training in Indigenous communities or at an institution, and for ‘wrap around’ supports for participants, such as transportation or childcare allowances.

CAHRC will ask for an in-kind contribution of 10 per cent of the training program’s total budget.

The deadline to apply is Jan. 31.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor with AgCanada. She writes from southeast Manitoba.

The post CAHRC puts out funding call for Indigenous training initiatives appeared first on Country Guide.

The Woodchurch High School farm opened 13 years ago, becoming a haven that nurtures the mental health and confidence of its students.

Based in the town of Birkenhead, which faces Liverpool across the River Mersey, the school counts dairy farmers and veterinarians among its former students who say the school’s farm is the reason they found their calling in life.

Woodchurch itself ranks in the top 10 per cent of local areas in England for income deprivation. Last month local authorities announced that the nearby leisure centre would be demolished.

And with UK social mobility at its lowest ebb in over 50 years, restricting people from moving to a higher income level, the farm’s ability to expose its students to people and professions far removed from the school’s urban trappings is more important than ever.

“It is really important that (young people) have an opportunity to achieve, to thrive, to actually show skills,” head teacher Rebekah Phillips said, adding that it had also helped support social and emotional development.

Each year the students compete in the prestigious Royal Cheshire and Westmorland county shows, displaying skills gained by looking after their sheep, alpacas, goats, pigs and chickens. Many have won prizes and acclaim from farming experts.

“The farming and agricultural communities have opened their arms to us,” Linda Hackett, the farm manager, said.

Year 10 (Grade 9) pupil Ella-Rose Mitchinson, 14, was awarded Student of the Year 2023 by the School Farms Network – a collection of 140 schools, many from rural communities.

For her, the farm represents a safe space, away from the world of social media and the rigours of teenage life.

“It lets me breathe,” she said, adding that she dreams of becoming a veterinary nurse.

Year 8 (Grade 7) pupil Corey Gibson, 13, agreed.

“It provides a happy place where you can be yourself. Animals won’t judge.”

Cultivating the future

Former pupil Sophie Tedesco, 27, now works as a dairy farmer in Shropshire, having first tasted farm life at the school before she left it in 2013.

“It opened my eyes to the agricultural world,” she says. “It was just completely different to what we were used to and I just loved it,” she said.

Increasingly the school is recognized as a centre for conservation due to a stroke of luck when it was gifted North Ronaldsay sheep at the farm’s opening in 2010.

Originally from Orkney, the sheep are listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as one of four “priority” breeds–the charity’s highest grade of concern.

“Our little school, over 13 years in our one-and-a-half acres has bred over 60 sheep, we’ve had lambs every year. Our sheep count towards the national census for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust,” farm manager Hackett said.

Headteacher Phillips says other schools have shown interest in the farm, but she laments the fact that it is never taken into consideration in the country’s academic review system, despite the broader community impact.

“We have never had one bit of vandalism, ever, in 13 years,” Phillips said.

“I think the worst incident we ever had was the uproar when a child fed a sheep a crisp (potato chip).”

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Students from Iowa’s CAC Media Group ventured to Regina for hands-on agricultural journalism experience.

Hannah Grantz, Jake VanderHeiden and Katlin Truelsen, students from high schools across Clinton County in eastern Iowa, interviewed, photographed and videotaped Canadian livestock producers, Spanish bullfighters and Saskatchewan rodeo queens for their social media channels.

They also plan to take stories home and work with other editors and publishers at digital and print publications across the United States.

Truelsen was eager for the chance to explore Canadian agriculture. At 16 years old, she has written articles for Humps N Horns Bull Riding Magazine out of Fort Worth, Texas. At Agribition, she jumped at the chance to interview bullfighters from Spain, who were competing in the Bullfighters Only Canadian Grand Prix on Tuesday.

Growing up on a cattle farm, Truelsen said learning about the rodeo world is new for her.

“It was cool to learn about the rodeo experience, hear what the bull riders have to offer. I mean, most of them are the same age as me, or a little older, so it’s cool to see what they do in their everyday lives compared to what I do.”

In addition to the students, three media group alumni also travelled to Regina for the event: Nate Lange, Beth Lamp and Carsen Mangelsen.

Lange was interested to see how different businesses run their operations. He earned a degree in marketing and sales management after participating in the CAC Media Group program when he was in high school. He’s been drawn to how businesses find efficiencies and create solutions to ongoing problems.

“Everyone does it a little differently, so just seeing how they do it and why they do it is really interesting.”

Lange was one of the first members when Jenna Stevens started the ag media program in 2017. Stevens noticed gaps in the Future Farmers of America (FFA) curriculum when it came to agricultural communications, so when the Agriculture in the Classroom consultant had unexpected free time with a group following an early end to a competition, they started a podcast that got picked up by a local radio station.

From there, they created a television show during COVID-19 because there was studio time up for grabs. Since then, the group continually looks for new opportunities to get student members hands-on experience in the agriculture journalism and communication industry.

The group is working on a rebranding and marketing campaign for Humps N Horns, said Stevens, and will help the magazine launch a new apparel line when the crew goes out to Las Vegas later in the year.

“I’m designing some of the new logos that are going to go on their apparel,” said Stevens. “We’ll be updating their website and doing some more marketing with that.”

Stevens works with 56 teachers in classrooms, teaching agricultural education, whether those are fun lessons for younger students or more complex, hands-on concepts.

Stevens and her students were surprised at the lack of agricultural education and hands-on learning provided in the Saskatchewan curriculum. She works to provide experiences to kids in her area, taking agricultural concepts and putting them into practice. She’s had students build things like rice paddies and hydroponic farms from the ground up.

Before coming to Agribition, the CAC team visited the University of Saskatchewan’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence and the Bovigen cattle reproduction centre in Moose Jaw.

Comparing educational opportunities in Saskatchewan versus those in Iowa, people want to see more when it comes to ag education in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms, said Stevens.

“There are a lot of rural individuals in this particular province and so it seems like people would like to see their children have those opportunities through the school system.”

The post At Agribition: Iowa school group looks in on Prairie ag appeared first on Country Guide.

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). 

Mahoney entered the industry with no agriculture experience. She had training in human resources and got a term job at Cereals Canada. “I just happened to have a boss who saw potential and connected dots for me.” 

Mahoney spoke during a panel discussion on agriculture technology, education and labour during the Agriculture Enlightened conference in Winnipeg, Oct. 26. 

“When you write your next job description, are you putting agriculture as the number one requirement?” Mahoney asked. “Or are we looking at some of the soft skills?” 

“When we put out a job ad, you know, five to six years working in agriculture is usually the prerequisite so, you know, we automatically have to cancel people out,” she added. 

“We’re really trying to change that conversation around our table,” Mahoney said. 

The panelists discussed how Agriculture in the Classroom plants the idea of agriculture careers in the minds of young people. 

Mahoney told a story about how, at the diner in her small town, the young waitress told her she wanted to become a plant geneticist. When asked where she got that idea, the young woman said that Agriculture in the Classroom had come to her school. 

“And I saw whoo!” Mahoney said. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” 

Panel host Jennifer Flanagan, the CEO of Actua — a firm that connects students with the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields — said her organization recently partnered with EMILI and Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba (AITC-M) to bring agriculture technology to young people, particularly Indigenous youth in the Prairie provinces. 

The project added agriculture technology jobs to a career exploration package Ag in the Classroom provides to teachers AITC-M executive director Katherine Cherewyk said in an interview after the panel. 

Technology is changing quickly, Cherewyk acknowledged. However, she said in her experience, when kids know what they want to do, they begin connecting how they can use new technology to reach their goals. 

For more coverage of Agriculture Enlightened, see future editions of the Manitoba Co-operator, the Western Producer and Grainews.

The post Think outside the agriculture box for labour, ag and tech leaders say appeared first on Country Guide.

It’s a simple example of the kind of employment gaps that keep farmers up at night, and that prevent their adoption of new technology, said the manager of an “upskilling” program that can potentially fill those gaps.

“About two years ago, the industry came to us to say ‘we can’t find the unique people that we need that understand technology and technology implementation but also understand agriculture and agri-food,” said Ednali Fertuck-Zehavi, manager of Palette Skill’s automation and digital agriculture specialist program.

Through the eight-week, 130-hour course, Palette Skills, the federally funded non-profit that has overseen the program for the past two years, hopes to train people to fill producers’ employment needs. Its latest intake occurred in August, but paletteskills.org has information on upcoming intakes.

Depending on the program for which they’re best suited, participants are trained by industry experts with hands-on, project-based learning in how emerging technologies apply to agriculture. Core areas include GIS (geographic information system), IoT (internet of things), drones, artificial intelligence, robotics and big data.

In the process, it seeks to develop a full suite of professional skills including project management, fundamentals of business development, problem-solving and team building. 

The program is looking for students who are unemployed or underemployed in a range of fields who may be able to bring their skills to the agriculture table. It’s open to post-secondary graduates with a minimum of three years’ work experience. The program’s ultimate goal is to match agri-food employers with the agriculturally and technically informed candidates they would consider hiring, said Fertuck-Zehavi.

“We see if we have someone in our talent pool and we match them.”

Palette Skills developed the program through consultation with agriculture-based academic institutions and a variety of agri-food employers. They found that academic excitement over a new innovation didn’t necessarily line up with the needs of farmers and ranchers.

Farmers may not know how to implement new ideas on their operations. This is where the fundamental idea of “filling gaps” was identified.

Answers to the Palette Skills questions built the automation and digital agriculture specialist program, which consists of three streams participants can choose from based on their goals and existing work experience: agribusiness and sales; industrial, technical and professional; and data analyst and programmer.

Two possible careers available to agribusiness and sales graduates include precision agronomist and crop input sales rep.

This stream has attracted participants with experience in project management, human resources, marketing, business development and even law.

Those participants, like all students, spend a portion of their time learning online and another portion learning the basics of farming. The ideal employee would be one who could bring new concepts and new ideas to the fray, said Fertuck-Zehavi.

“If you train them in the main expertise of the agri-food sector, they take all this transferable knowledge and they can solve problems that we have in the sector in new, exciting ways — ways to be more productive and better ways to work in technology that will save us time.”

That can have far-reaching implications.

“Having good agri-business management talent is essential to make those operations able to compete at the international level,” she said.

For those who want to participate in the industrial, technical and professional stream, post-program options might include precision agriculture specialist, remote sensing technician or automation technician.

It’s a broad stream requiring creative and critical thinking. Students with backgrounds as varied as engineering, soil science and genetics have finished the program under this stream.

If the goal can be distilled to a single sound bite, it would be “solve problems.”

It’s a matter of identifying challenges in current systems and solving them through current or potential technologies, said Fertuck-Zehavi.

“How do we make sure that what we have right now is working in the best way? Some farmers have processing facilities that cost them $10 million but they only use a small portion of that capacity. Ideally, the graduate would have the talent to implement it properly.”

Graduates of the data analyst and programmer stream may look forward to jobs such as ag tech software engineer, precision ag programmer and agribusiness applications developer.

This is the stream that requires the most experience in computer programming, said Fertuck-Zehavi. Some challenges relevant to agriculture will require the ability to develop software-based solutions.

“Even though they did analytics and are excited about analytics but don’t have any programming experience, they won’t be able to go to the data analyst and programmer stream,” she said.

“If you don’t have those reserve skills, you still need to go through so much growth before you’ll be able to apply for those jobs and be successful in them.”

The constant input of farmers has been key to the program, which recently finished its third cohort of attendees, said Fertuck-Zehavi.

“We involve the farmer constantly in providing training, reviewing our curriculum and providing real-life problems and case studies and we’re providing data that each stream is working on — those real-life challenges that we currently have in the industry.”

Funded by the Government of Canada through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Palette Skills is a non-profit organization that develops employer-driven upskilling programs that help mid-career workers find a place in the workforce. 

– This article was originally published at the Alberta Farmer Express.

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OAC said Wednesday its proposed new “master of plant agriculture” (MPAg) program would allow recent graduates and professionals to “quickly upgrade education and training without the need of conducting academic research through a traditional thesis-based program.”

The University of Guelph-based college would offer the first intake to the new program through its Department of Plant Agriculture starting in the fall of 2024, pending approvals from the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance and the provincial ministry of colleges and universities.

The new master’s degree would “address the demands of employers in the private and public sectors who are looking for professionals with advanced expertise in plant breeding, crop production and plant science,” OAC said in a release.

Students would be able to complete the new program in three or four semesters, allowing international students to be eligible to apply for a post-graduate work permit, the college said.

The program would allow students to study on a full- or part-time basis and select courses lining up with “specific career goals in breeding and genetics, biochemistry and physiology, or crop production systems for both agronomic and horticultural crops.”

“We are consistently hearing that employers are seeking graduates that have the scientific knowledge as well as the hands-on training in plant and agricultural science,” Dr. John Cranfield, acting dean of OAC, said in Wednesday’s release.

(Cranfield was named acting OAC dean in July, after dean Dr. Rene Van Acker was seconded to serve as the University of Guelph’s interim vice-president for research, replacing Dr. Malcolm Campbell.)

“This program will fill this gap and provide graduates with valuable skills in collaboration and communication needed for career success,” Cranfield said.

“This program provides an opportunity for students to gain a more comprehensive knowledge in the core subjects of plant agriculture, without focusing on one particular project through a research degree,” Corteva AgriScience research scientist Dr. Eric Shaw said in the university’s release. “I can see this being an advantage to those applying to Corteva.”

OAC emphasized it continues to offer the “thesis-based” M.Sc. and PhD in plant agriculture, which it described as “ideal for students wishing to pursue careers in research in the private or public sector.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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