Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) Foundation Director, Ann Marie Ward, was honored to be a part of the 2024 AgCareers.com Agriculture & Food HR Roundtable Conference held in Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota July 24th and 25th.
About the AgCareers.com Agriculture & Food HR Roundtable Conference
This two day event brought together employers and educational professionals offering pertinent content focused on talent recruitment and retention within the agriculture and food industry. This roundtable is the only industry-specific conference of its kind.
In attendance were HR professionals, leaders, managers, supervisors, university & college career services advisors and professionals, educators, professors, deans and department leads. The group was eager to gain insights and updates on the state of careers in the agriculture and food industry and reaching those interested in those careers.
Cultivating the Future Pipeline Panel
Three panelists were featured on the Cultivating the Future Pipeline Panel. This panel brought together the boots on the ground at the intersection of education, agriculture and careers to share how they are approaching achieving the goal.
Panelists:
- Ann Marie Ward, Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation Director
- Natasha Mortensen, Career Development Coordinator for Minnesota FFA Association and Executive Director of MN FFA Alumni and Supporters
- Amy Lord, Career & Technical Education (CTE) Coordinator for ISD 728
Hosting the panel was the Assistant Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Patrice Bailey.
How soon should we start talking about careers with students?
One question that was asked of the panel was, “How soon should we start talking about careers with students?” The panel answered with a resounding, “It’s never too early!” Ann Marie Ward commented, “The first concern we have when a child is born is are they eating and drinking well? We are focusing on all K-12 teachers and not just agriculture teachers for this reason. It’s never too early to start talking about careers and careers in agriculture with our students.”
Working Towards a Common Goal
Attendees and presenters alike were all in agreement upon the discovery that we are all working towards the same goal of "Agriculture is valued by all.” The benefit of having multiple people and organizations working together to achieve this is that each approaches the goal with a different set of tools and opportunities.
Career Resources from MAITC
Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom sees the value in helping to educator our K-12 students on careers in agriculture. There are several FREE resources available to Minnesota K-12 educators through MAITC. Among these are the following:
- Farm Camp
- New this Year
Careers Beyond the Farm Documentary and Video Shorts Series created in conjunction with Lakeland PBS
MAITC is Grateful for these Partnerships
As we continue to build opportunities for our Minnesota K-12 students in agriculture, we can not express our gratitude enough to the amazing organizations and partners that have stepped into the ring to increase the impact.
Thank you to Careers Beyond the Farm Partners
Thank you to AgCareers.com
It was truly a wonderful conference and we are grateful to have AgCareers.com come to Minnesota! If you are an employer or educator, you MUST check out this amazing resource! AgCareers.com boasts many incredible mentorship and internship opportunities among many other resources.