One of the things I love about this job is meeting a different group of individuals every time I visit a newly built facility for the cover story. I enjoy getting an up-close look at the various roles they play in manufacturing feed or keeping grain elevators running quickly and smoothly.
I’m there first and foremost to get the facts on their operations and equipment and uncover what makes their business unique, but I leave with more meaningful connections from discussing our families, hobbies and ways to spend time in their communities.
In recent years, though, I’ve noticed a shift in demographics of the people working in this industry. Most notably, their age is declining, and more and more women are getting into the field. Both of these are welcome developments.
My travels most recently took me to Milan, KS, where three of the people providing the site tour were somewhat recent college graduates. The rest of the staff were young men and women, many of whom had gone to college out of state and returned to Sumner County for a job at Producer Ag LLC’s new shuttle loading facility, (Read more on pg. 12, “Teamwork Lays Track for Success”.) It was refreshing to hear about young people coming home to work in ag when so many times that’s not the case.
We’ve discussed hiring challenges many times in the pages of Feed & Grain, so I understand how difficult it is to attract the younger generation to this line of work. On the other hand, Baby Boomers are beginning to retire and those from the millennial generation, in many cases, are taking their place.
The point of acknowledging this is to say that the face of our industry is slowly changing and we at Feed & Grain want to welcome the newcomers. We also want to make sure we’re reaching you.
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