The numbers are echoed by the USDA as its reports show more than 20,000 agriculture jobs go without an employee annually.
Lydia Botham, executive director for Land O’Lakes Foundation, said in a March 15 release that there’s misinformation about what a career in agriculture can be.
“People still think you have to wear boots and overalls to work in ag,” she said.
Many people may not realize the importance technology, transportation, marketing, social media and other industries play in agriculture, and how each industry can provide its own opportunity in ag.
“To me this is sort of a wake-up call,” Brian Buhr, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota told the Minneapolis StarTribune.
Survey Findings:
- 54 per cent of people who took the survey think it’s “difficult or very difficult for recent college graduates to get a job in agriculture”
- 76 per cent aren’t sure a career in agriculture pays well
- 35 per cent of Millennials think ag careers do pay well
The United States isn’t the only country with a shortage of ag workers.
According to recent data, Canada’s agriculture industry is short by about 59,000 workers and approximately one in every 12 ag jobs go unfilled.
In search of a job in agriculture? Visit AgCareers.com.