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Agribusiness Talent Council promotes ag careers to students with March reading program

A workforce development agency is using March as Reading Month as a springboard to increase awareness of agricultural careers with students.

Carol Distel with the Agribusiness Talent Council of West Michigan tells Brownfield, “When you’re four and five generations out from it, kids don’t know where their food is coming from or just what they can do within the industry when they grow up.”

She says the Spotlight on Ag Readers (SOAR) initiative began in 2022 to pair elementary classrooms with volunteers to read an agriculturally accurate story to students.

“It’s not just reading the story,” she explains. “Part of it is also that person comes in and says, hey, this is where I work, and this is what I do. And kids are like, oh, what is that about? So, you give them a taste of what you’re doing. And then we also do a hands-on activity with them.”

Through working with county intermediate school districts and local partners, Distel says demand for readers has grown sevenfold in the last four years.

“Growing this program, getting kids into that experience, I think, is important not only for the ag industry, but for the state’s education,” she says. “Letting them know that this is a possibility for them. It’s also a steppingstone to a lot of the other things we do.”

This year, The Soil In Jackie’s Garden and Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table are being read across the council’s seven-county region throughout March.

The council also connects with middle and high school students through career ag-xploration events, scholarships, and promotes agribusiness careers throughout social and local news outlets as part of March’s National Agriculture Month and Michigan Food and Ag Month.

Michigan’s food, forestry, and ag industry is valued at nearly $126 billion.