Innovations

The increasing need for agricultural service workers

The number of good job opportunities in the agricultural service area is increasing tremendously.  Bill Oemichen is president and CEO of Cooperative Network which provides training, marketing, technical services and government relations for more than 600 cooperatives in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Oemichen says cooperatives are growing and that means more opportunities for people to work with those cooperatives.  He points to more than 300 different job titles just within the dairy industry and some of those positions pay a base salary of $100,000 per year plus a potential bonus.

One of challenges is the jobs are in rural areas and with fewer people coming from those areas, fewer want to work there.  Ironically, he say in Wisconsin, anything outside of Milwaukee is considered “rural” so an employee can still live in a pretty good-sized city.

Cooperative Network is doing more with high schools to let those students know the type of jobs that are available and what those jobs may involve.  If someone is interested, there are internships and scholarships “so they can get to know our cooperatives.”  Oemichen says they need to build on that to include trade schools, colleges and universities.

Despite a bit of a downturn right now, Oemichen believes the agricultural economy will continue to be one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy. “We’re going to have many challenges feeding the population of the globe so there is going to be a need for a strong and vibrant American agriculture and Wisconsin agriculture.”

Listen to Oemichen’s comments: