BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the shortage of qualified workers up and down the agricultural food chain. A new survey in Illinois is intended to elevate awareness of educational pathways to food and farm employment opportunities.

According to Tyler Strom, managing director for the Illinois Agri-Food Alliance (ILAFA), Illinois is a world-class destination for all types of agri-food businesses and organizations. Taking a collaborative approach to assess and act on critical workforce needs now will ensure a skilled and diverse workforce pipeline for the future, he added.

“What we are doing with the survey is asking agri-food businesses to describe their workforce needs, what they are hiring for, and what they expect to be hiring for. We are also concentrating on K-12 educators in the state, asking if and what they are teaching about food and agriculture as a career-worthy industry, and what types of resources they might need to better accomplish that.” 

Input received from the survey will influence the development of a dedicated, Illinois-centric agri-food careers website. The website will showcase agri-food career pathways, including educational options and vocational programs, currently available internships and apprenticeships, and job mentoring opportunities. Scholarship and grant opportunities will also be spotlighted.

“We see the website as a centralized location to really elevate awareness about food and ag employment from an industry perspective and shine a light on career opportunities,” said Strom. “Information from the survey will help inform what that website will ultimately look like and the resources it will provide.” 

The survey is targeted, in part, toward youth, particularly those in 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th grades. “We want to better understand how we can relate food and agriculture as an exciting sector for them to be considering. Input from the survey can help us understand how companies, businesses and organizations are already engaging with youth, what they might be interested in doing career-wise, whether they would be interested in having company representatives come to their classrooms to talk with them about their companies, and more,” Strom said.

“With our ag educator survey, we want to better understand the needs of teachers in our state when it comes to talking about food and ag as a viable industry with a wide variety of career opportunities available. We want to know what kinds of resources can help them accelerate that type of awareness with their students.” 

 ILAFA was formed in 2014 to hone in on key areas of interest including business development and entrepreneurship, infrastructure, resource management, branding and marketing, workforce development and education. ILAFA’s mission is to develop high-level strategies to maintain Illinois’ strong agri-food profile in accordance with their collaborative FARM ILLINOIS “roadmap.” Bringing cross-sector stakeholders together to share strategies, ideas and needs is a top priority of the group. 

“We have to continue working together to showcase the opportunities that exist within our industry if we hope to attract bright, young talent that will push the future of Illinois agriculture forward,” said Richard Guebert, president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, which is a member of the ILAFA. In addition to the farm bureau, ILAFA supporters and collaborators include COUNTRY Financial, GROWMARK, the University of Illinois and Illinois Soybean Association, among others. 

The workforce survey can be found at https://bit.ly/ILAFAWorkforceSurvey. Additional information on the survey can be found at www.ilagrifood.org/careerssurvey. Survey responses are due by Sept. 10.