News

Millennials don’t consider ag for career

A recent survey says an alarming percent of millennials and college graduates have NOT considered careers in agriculture.

Executive director of the Land O’Lakes Foundation Lydia Botham tells Brownfield while technology was one of the highest career interests of respondents, agriculture was the least likely choice.  “Only 3 percent of college grads and 9 percent of the millennials surveyed said they would consider an ag career.”

Botham says the agricultural industry has plenty of good paying jobs readily available for applicants.  “A USDA job report showed that annually 20,000 jobs in agriculture go unfilled each year.”  She says, “When you think about that, there’s just lots and lots of opportunities not only to come into the field, but to move up within the field and make it a great career.”  Botham says agricultural careers today include finance, IT, supply chain and marketing.

To attract more young people to careers in agriculture, Botham says Land O’Lakes has created the Global Food Challenge program.  “The idea for this program is how to get young people excited about agriculture and this great need that we have to feed the world.”

She says they are also catering more to millennials by offering a variety of career experiences and flexibility.

AUDIO: Interview with Lydia Botham