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Millennial generation will soon be the face of agriculture

As younger people move into managing roles in agriculture and society, adjusting to changes in the workplace and the market can present a challenge. Jaye Hamby with FLM Plus says leaders should be prepared because Millennials will make up around 70 percent of the entire workforce in the not too distant future.

“From the perspective of gosh they’re going to be the dominant player in the years to come and what’s that going to mean for our businesses, what’s that going to mean in terms of consumer preferences, succession planning, the employees we may be managing on the farm and the like.” says Hamby.

Predicting what’s to come is a great unknown, but Hamby says the attitudes and values of the millennial generation are such that agriculture may become more diversified as that generation moves into management roles.

“We’re going to have what I call the commodity or mass market produced economies of scale in ag and at the other end of the spectrum we’re going to see this growing niche production and localized, organic, those types of food offerings that are going to be consumed by this millennial generation” says Hamby.

Hamby spoke at an Ohio Soy Tomorrow forum which looks at emerging trends and issues in soy production. The forum was hosted by the Ohio Soybean Council.

Audio: Jaye Hamby with FLM Plus