With the necessary advances being made to ag technologies, it will be critical to continue advancing the skills of the ag workforce. President and CEO of Western Growers, Dave Puglia said that preparing farm employees for new technologies serves multiple purposes. Increasing mechanization to combat ongoing labor shortages in agriculture will require a more advanced skillset from employees. That progress will also be crucial for ensuring the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture.
“We have to assume that our competitors around the globe are doing exactly what we’re trying to do right now. They’re also trying to automate as fast as they can. They’re trying to train their workforce to be able to accommodate that change in the way the industry operates. And they’re trying to do it more quickly than we can because they want to get market share,” said Puglia. “If we don’t collaborate, if we don’t work across non-traditional relationships to get this right and get it done fast, someone else will and we could lose market share.”
Listen to the radio report below.
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