Agriculture involves growing of crops such as fruits and vegetables and rearing of livestock to produce food for public consumption. Without agriculture our existence as humans and livestock would be threatened. Whether one is practicing agriculture in a small farm or in a large farm, agriculture provides many benefits to the society.Food:Another benefit of agriculture is the fact it provides food both at local and international levels. Without crops and livestock produced through agriculture, the world’s food supply would be extremely unreliable and limited. Most people would have to live nomadic lives as they continually search for food. Through the supply of fruits, vegetables and livestock products, processing and manufacturing companies are able to make foods which are preserved and consumed even when the agricultural production is low. As a result, this ensures there is sufficient supply of food.Cleaning the air:Just like any other type of plants, crops release Oxygen during the photosynthesis process. The oxygen released is then used for humans and animals to use for breathing purposes. During the photosynthesis process, plants absorb Carbon Dioxide in the air while releasing Oxygen. High volumes of carbon dioxide in the air lead to global warming effects. Agricultural crops and other plants thus reverse this process by reducing the carbon dioxide in the air.Reduction in soil erosion and flooding:Growing of crops such as pastures for livestock feed and cover crops such as sweet potato vines for both human and livestock consumption plays a great deal in reducing flooding and erosion. Through farming such as growing of tress decreases the occurrence of floods during the periods of high rains or storms. Other crops such as grass and hay absorb a lot of water before run off can occur. This results in less pollution of our water bodies with soil sediments and chemicals used in agricultural production.Public health:Agriculture provides people with fruits, vegetables; meat and dairy products which are full of important nutrients required by the body as well as antioxidants which increase the resistance of bodies have towards some diseases which would be caused by lack of these nutrients. Animals which have been raised under natural conditions such as pastures and free range provide.Support community:With readily available products, agriculture provides fresh produce to the people living or working around agriculture producing area. This leads to low expenses since they provide the produce at low costs. Money earned from agriculture is either ploughed back and other is invested in other sectors leading to the economy growing.Biofuels production:As the fossils fuels reserves become scarce and dry and also due to the pollution concerns, agriculture has been an alternative in providing clean fuel which is extracted from plants such as Jatropha and corn. Although they are yet to be embraced by everyone, research shows that biofuels reduce the volume of green house gases released to the atmosphere and as a result, the demand for agriculture is likely to increase in future.

A major agriculture company recently complained to me that they had over 3000 jobs to fill in the Midwest and they could not find trained talent who were willing to take these jobs.I know this might sound crazy if you are someone looking for a job or if you are in an industry where you are laying people off rather than having jobs to fill. However the media doesn’t report on the jobs that are available they are more likely to report on the loss of jobs in America.As a consultant and trainer in the agriculture industry (I grew up on a working farm so I have first hand knowledge of the mentality of agriculture people) I told the CEO on the phone that they had a PR problem. Interestingly about two weeks later there was news media coverage on CNN about jobs available in the agriculture industry.There are a number of reasons why recruiting and retention is a challenge in the agriculture industry such as younger generations like Generation Y (those in their 20’s) are shying away from labor jobs and are more attracted to technological fields and that Generation X (those in their 30’s) do not want to be away from their families for long periods of time and thirdly that Zoomers (Baby boomers 50 and to about 28) are retiring.But these reasons do not have to be seen as a negative when looking to recruit and retain specifically for the agriculture industry, rather there is an opportunity to focus and ‘sell’ the positives to each of the demographics so that we are providing custom lifestyle values that will entice talent to the industry.Here are 6 ways to recruit in the agriculture industry:#1- Build your recruitment campaigns around the values of each of the generations. For example driving a tractor today is very different than it used to be. Today’s equipment is tricked out with the latest technology- users can access the web, use auto functions and have increased safety. This needs to be communicated to Generation Y’s who can accept repetitive work tasks (like driving a tractor) if they are told about the positives. They can access Facebook or they can work mornings and afternoon and evenings free or some days they will be working 14 hours but they can work in a season and make as much money as they might make in a year at another job.#2- Look at the communities and what they offer younger generations and families. Recently in Entrepreneur magazine (October 2011) there was an article about two Generation X agriculture employees who found that there was nothing for them to do outside of work in their small town, nor were their family activities that appealed to today’s tech savvy kids. They set out to create weekly Wii and X Box championship gatherings and they set up a Web Cafe for brainstorming and sharing tech resources. An opportunity for an agriculture company is to find ways to add value and enhance the communities where they employ workers.#3- Look for industries with similar values when recruiting- with many military workers returning home they are an ideal talent resource. Those who have worked in the military are typically disciplined, willing to work hard and are used to being away from family for periods of time.#4- An obvious yet underused recruitment tool is referral incentives. Your existing talent pool is the perfect place to solicit for more workers that are exactly like them. Encourage your employees to use social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Linked In to reach out to their circles of influence to engage and invite their peers to join the agriculture industry.#5- Use media more vigorously- You Tube is the 2nd highest search engine on the Internet- research shows that we are all drawn to video as a communication tool more than any other medium. Create modern, edgy and values focused video to tell your agriculture company story and to engage and invite talent to apply for jobs in your company. Video tape your happy workers of all ages and have them tell their story as to why they love the agriculture industry. Every one of your websites should have engaging video on your home page and on your recruitment pages.#6- Once you have recruited you need to make sure you retain them. Most generation Y’s will only stick around with any employer for a maximum of three years. Rather than see this as disloyal- see it as an opportunity to keep them for as long as you can. Positive on boarding strategies are crucial to increase retention as are recognition, rewards and good leadership. If companies are not focused on retention strategies then they will find themselves constantly recruiting because of high turnover.It is an exciting time for the agriculture industry in 2011 and beyond- it’s a great problem to have so many jobs available that other industries would love to have!In order to recruit and retain for the agriculture industry we need to integrate what has worked in the past with new strategies that include technology, modifying hours and the way we work and matching what workers want with what your company can provide.