Launching Careers in Ag from the Launch Pad at Canada’s Farm Show

The official launch of Careers in Ag at Canada’s Farm Show on Thursday, June 22, included a panel discussion with five Careers in Ag Ambassadors and AMC President Donna Boyd. The panel geared their discussion towards students about to embark on their careers and what the ag industry as a whole needs to do to ensure that word gets out that there are a multitude of fulfilling and exciting jobs available in the ag industry. A central theme that ran through the discussion was that the industry’s doors are open to everyone and that a background in ag is not a prerequisite to enter a career in the ag industry.

Ag is not just farming

Donna Boyd enthusiastically struck off the conversation by saying that there is no greater opportunity right now for anyone than in agriculture. Agricultural manufacturers, and the agriculture industry in general, is continuously thirsty for talent. The tremendous need for talent goes back through the 53-year lifespan of AMC, and Boyd felt it was time for someone to take the lead for ag manufacturers and the ag industry as a whole.

The need for talent was the impetus of the Careers in Ag initiative, which unites industry, academia and government in a push to show opportunities to prospective career candidates.

Although she has no deep connection to farming, and most of her career prior to her tenure at AMC was in not-for-profit leadership, she has found her place championing agriculture, specifically agricultural manufacturing.

Boyd says one of the key messages of the Careers in Ag initiative is “to ensure that we present all the opportunities available in agriculture. Ag is not just farming.”

Be open to learning

Unlike Boyd, Chrisa Kastning, CEO of Duckfoot Parts, has a background in agriculture, having grown up on a small farm in Saskatchewan. Kastning left the farm to study social work at university and then found herself back on a farm when she joined her husband on his farm.

Tackling working farm issues around combine losses during lentil harvest led the couple to start down the path to farm innovation and the founding of Duckfoot Parts. The company now sells to five countries and continues to expand and grow.

Kastning offers advice to anyone seeking a career in agriculture. “Having a peer group and gaining advice from others is very important. Be open to learning and adaptable. Soak up any knowledge available.” Other panel members echoed her sage advice. Even if you’re not sure right off the bat that you’ve found your niche, keep learning, keep your eyes open, and opportunities will present themselves.

Show ambition, and you’ll get there

Glenna Stewart, Vice President of Process Improvement for Degelman Industries, also grew up on a farm. As an aspiring musician, she realized she would need a “job to pay the bills, “ which led her to study engineering. Her familiarity with farm equipment and her ability to envision design led her on a slightly different career path than expected. Wanting to make sure her designs could actually be made, she went into machine shop, which led to starting her ag career with Hi-Tech Profiles. Working there, she got to meet many companies and discover the exciting products they were producing.

The networking she did led her to a technical sales position with Degelman Industries, leading her to a production job – process improvement, IT and more.

About the slightly circuitous path that led her to a fulfilling career, Stewart advises career-minded individuals to “Show up. Show that you want to excel. Watch what’s happening. Volunteer to help with whatever needs to be done and learn from it. Show ambition, and you’ll get there.”

Ag is technology

Sales Specialist for Raven Industries, Chris Morson’s path to a career in ag may be even more circuitous than Stewart’s. Although there was farming in his family background, Morson says his roots are more oil patch than farm. He studied hotel and restaurant management and was prepared to pursue his career in that field when family circumstances brought him home to the family farm.

Taking a job on the floor at Seedhawk as a painter, a job he saw as a way to pay the bills, showed him the exciting career opportunities available in ag. His outgoing personality and positive attitude were recognized, and he soon found himself in a marketing and sales position. He says he became “addicted to talking to farmers about new technology,” which led him to move to DOT, which was bought by Raven, where he combines his love of new technology and communication.

Morson says there is a misconception many people have about farming – that things are done the same way generation after generation when, in reality, new technologies are being adopted and improved constantly. In fact, agriculture adopts new technologies at a faster pace than any other industry.

Morson believes that great careers in ag are available to many more people in many different capacities than is realized. How to get there? “We have room for everybody, and it’s so fluid. Showing interest in another department can allow moving to a fulfilling position.”

Ag careers provide stability

The name Mattland Riley may be familiar to CFL fans from his time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. What they may not know is that he used his abilities as a football player to get him through his studies in mechanical engineering. That time spent on the family farm figuring out how the machinery worked led him to go for his Mech. Eng degree.

Riley played with the Roughriders for about a year. Unfortunately, he was injured, and that time off gave him the space to contemplate the ins and outs of a professional athletic career. He reached the decision to pursue engineering to provide stability for his family.

As advice to anyone seeking a career in any facet of ag, Riley says, “There is opportunity. Show up every day humble and willing to put in the work.”

What does ag need to do to attract talent?

It’s clear that there are many exciting opportunities available in ag. Still, the word is not fully out to those looking for fulfilling careers that there is a place for them in the agricultural industry. The panelists all agreed that until now, ag had been undersold.

Morson is passionate about getting the word out that tech is a massive field in agriculture, “Autonomy is in ag. It’s not just Tesla. This needs to be communicated to the general public. The rewards and careers are there.”

Stewart says that people just need to know careers are available, “Let them know the job exists. [They] have to be able to visualize it.”

Riley doesn’t remember anyone from ag coming into his school to do presentations, “This needs to happen. Other industries do it, so get into schools!”

Clearly, Careers in Ag, with its spirit of collaboration and passion for the industry, is getting the word out to dispel some of the industry’s myths and is moving in the right direction to attract the right talent to the right careers in ag. Uniting industry, academia and government through career fairs and the CareersinAg.com website, the Careers in Ag initiative has taken a bold step forward. The program is uniting the ag industry with talent and exposing a broader range of job seekers to the vibrant world of the ag industry.

In case you missed it, watch the panel discussion for the Launch Your Career in Ag Event here.