ST. CLOUD, Minn. — One thing that can often be said of agriculture is that the work is plentiful but the workers are few.
That was made clear at the Central Minnesota Farm Show in St. Cloud, Minnesota, where the more than 150 vendor spots were completely sold out for the two-day show. On dozens of the vendor tables was signage that said simply “Ask me about careers in agriculture.” It was part of the show's volunteer efforts to shed light on ag career exploration.
The free event invited groups of high school or college students to stop by and pick up a packet that led them to vendors that could help them answer questions about a career at their business. It was a simple way for vendors to make contact with the next generation of agriculture.
Bernie Quist volunteers with the Central Minnesota Farm Show, which is organized by the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce, and she brought forward the idea to include career exploration at the event several years ago. She said acceptance of this program is growing each year.
“The positive thing that we have about this is we get students coming, but the vendors have been very pleased about it,” Quist said.
She said it’s not only encouraging to youth to hear about ideas in careers, but it’s encouraging to the business community that sees the next generation is interested in what they are doing. On the first day of the event, two bus loads of students arrived to explore and more were expected the following day.
One of the vendors talking to students was Arnold’s of St. Cloud, Minnesota, an equipment dealer offering Case IH equipment and service. Sean Arnold, general manager of that location, said their biggest need is service technicians. They offer scholarships to help new hires pay back some of their education costs. Even within the service department are an abundance of opportunities from diesel, hydraulics, electronics and more.
“It’s a career stepping stone. So you can start in the service department, we can work into management, we can work into parts, we can work into our precision farming specialist, up to sales, to store managers, there’s a lot of room for growth,” Arnold said.
Arnold’s offers paid internships to those interested in joining the team. According to their website, 59 interns have been hired to full-time jobs since 2013.
It was easy to talk about career opportunities in agriculture finance for Shannon Nelson, ag lender with Compeer Financial. She said the career opportunities are endless, which can sometimes be a challenge for youth who don’t know which path to choose. One key factor seems to be a passion for agriculture. Nelson grew up in ag and continues to raise livestock while working in ag lending.
“The passion I think kids have that grew up on a farm or into ag is pretty cool, and we definitely need to keep the farming aspect alive,” Nelson said.
Nelson started out in an entry-level position and worked her way up to closings and eventually into ag lending — a job she said is very fun and rewarding.
One of those youth trying to figure out what direction to take was Emma Butterfass a member of the Little Falls, Minnesota, FFA chapter, who attended with other members of her chapter. She knows she wants to work with animals but was pleased to visit the show and learn about other opportunities that exist, too. She explained that it’s easy to just think about agriculture as working with crops or animals.
“But there’s a lot more that goes into it and I feel like it’s a lot easier to come to these things and learn a lot more about it,” Butterfass said.
Quist was walking through the show and happened upon some students who she welcomed in earlier that day. She asked how their time was going so far.
“He goes, ‘Well, I got an internship,’” Quist recalled.
She was of course excited for the young man who found perhaps more than he expected.
“It’s just wonderful,” Quist said. “You don’t know what doors open when you start to ask questions.”