Diversity in Agriculture: How Diverse & Inclusive is the Industry?

We hear a lot of chatter about workplace diversity. Employers often allocate resources to recruiting diverse talent and are quick to tell candidates how welcoming of a work environment they’ll find. Job seekers want to know they are going to work for an organization that welcomes diversity in its most traditional sense, as well as a broader scope that accounts for diversity of thought and experiences. At AgCareers.com we recognize that as agriculture itself has diversified, so has its workforce. In response, we conducted a survey to capture employer’s efforts to address diversity within their organizations. While there’s a lot of talk about diversity in agriculture, we wanted data to back up the statement that the industry generally embraces and supports diversity in the workplace.

Our objective was that the survey responses would help us tell the story that we knew to be true. No longer is there a typical employee in agriculture; rather we’ve outgrown stereotypes about the demographics of our industry. The Workplace Diversity Survey- 2018 U.S. Edition did just that.

Perhaps most encouraging were the organizational demographics key findings pertaining to diversity in agriculture:

● Females are represented as diverse talent at 83% of organizations.
 
● 67% of organizations reported more than one race is represented by their employees.
 
● Employers are not easily able to identify diversity that is not outwardly visible such as religion, sexual preference and nationality.

If an individual has hesitations about pursuing a career in agriculture because of their diverse background they should know that the survey data lends to the consensus that typically, employers do not focus on the demographics of an individual, rather they are hiring the best candidate for the job.

Also, worth mentioning is that nearly 60% of organizations noted their primary purpose for recruiting diverse candidates was to build an environment of diverse perspectives and experiences.
 

While less than 25% of organizations reported having strategies aimed specifically at retaining a diverse workforce, 65% reported that they do not have trouble retaining diverse employees! More than half of the organizations specifically train managers to communicate with and manage diverse employees and 36% of organizations provide diversity training for all employees.
 

As with most anything involving human capital, there is room for improvement as the agriculture industry strives to foster diverse workplaces. However, this survey report should encourage diverse candidates to consider employment opportunities within agriculture.
 

For a copy of the full report, you can download from www.agcareers.com/reports.cfm. Ready to search for a career in agriculture? Visit www.agcareers.com