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Overview

The production of food and other agricultural goods is a fundamental human endeavor and a cornerstone of the U.S. economy. While careers related to agriculture and natural resources have evolved in response to new knowledge and technology, consumer demands, and environmental changes, these professional fields now face a critical challenge: the ability to recruit and maintain a robust workforce.

Companies, government bodies, and research organizations involved in food, agriculture, and natural resources (areas referred to collectively as FANR) are struggling to attract the next generation of workers. This shortage is apparent in employment projections for both trade positions attainable with certificate programs and high-tech positions requiring advanced degrees. Traditionally, many scientists, engineers, technicians, salespeople, managers, and educators in FANR fields grew up in farming communities. Today, fewer people have direct connections to a farm, and most live in urban areas. As a result, job seekers, on the whole, are less aware of opportunities in FANR fields. Other factors such as an increasingly diverse population, shifting work and career views, and lucrative job opportunities in other fields also impact the ability to recruit talented individuals into the agricultural workforce.

To provide a forum for discussing how the community might come together to address this challenge, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop on February 10–11, 2016, in Washington, DC. There were approximately 100 participants from land-grant universities, non-land-grant universities, minority-serving universities, community colleges, high schools, professional societies, government bodies, and corporations—reflecting the wide diversity of organizations with a stake in the future FANR workforce.

The workshop was designed not only to highlight the significance of the challenges but also to surface concrete, forward-looking opportunities for action. This Proceedings of a Workshop summarizes plenary presentations from the workshop along with insights from 10 working groups that described key challenges, ongoing efforts to address them, and promising approaches for future action.

This proceedings was prepared by the workshop rapporteurs as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop. The planning committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the workshop. The views contained in the proceedings are those of individual workshop participants and do not necessarily represent the views of all workshop participants, the planning committee, or the National Academies.