Agricultural Manufacturing: ‘There will always be job security’
Nearly 8 billion people exist on the planet today, each with a need to be fed.
Equipment contributing to food production would be impossible without the manufacturing specialists working behind the scenes.
National Manufacturing Day, observed Oct. 1, offers an opportunity to highlight careers in agricultural manufacturing.
Dr. Dean Olson, an Associate Dean and Professor of Agriculture Engineering Technology at University of Wisconsin River Falls, said a background in agriculture isn’t necessary, and most of his students have never lived or worked on a farm and likely never will.
“The future of agriculture is changing,” Olson said. “It’s not your grandfather’s red barn, shovel and a pitchfork type of farm anymore. They are getting to be very complex businesses, everything from dairies to production agriculture to livestock is changing dramatically.”
Family history is no longer the driving force behind earning a career in agriculture.
“It’s getting to be more common that students are interested in the food they eat and understanding where that food comes from,” Olson said.
Brian Maul, a Product Manager with Oxbo International Corporation who oversees Processed and Specialty Vegetables, agrees that a background in agriculture isn’t necessary. Many skills cross over from one industry to the next within manufacturing, Maul said.
“The skills or talents needed for manufacturing-whether ag, automotive or aviation- are going to carry over from one to the other,” Maul said. “There’s no exclusion because someone happens to have had a focus in automotive manufacturing. There are certainly roles that can be played across the board.”
Agricultural manufacturing accounts for more than 13% of Wisconsin’s agricultural industry jobs, according to the 2021 Feeding the Economy report.
There’s a shortage of people to fill manufacturing roles, both Maul and Olson said.
“I have more jobs than I have students, even in this weird economy,” Olson said. “Even in hard times, our students have no problems finding jobs. … Regardless of the economy, people will always be hungry. There will always be a need to produce food. There will always be job security.”
Agriculture is going to be here, Maul said.
“We’re going to grow food for as long as we’re here,” Maul said. “It’s a good career to get involved in. It’s reliable. It doesn’t have the cycles that some do. The ag industry tends to be a little more stable than many industries are.”
There are a range of careers under the agricultural manufacturing umbrella. Some manufacturing careers require a degree while others do not. Some positions relate to manufacturing directly, while others relate to product design, Olson said.
Positions include design engineers, test engineers, quality control engineers, precision agricultural specialists and more.
“A Design Engineer is the one starting to look ahead to the future and what those tractors are going to look like 20 years from now,” Olson said. “Quite frankly, robotics is going to play a huge role in that.”
“Robotics in agriculture?” is a question Olson said he gets asked often. His answer is always the same.
“I say, ‘yes, it is going to be huge. It is already growing,’” he said.
Test engineers get the fun job, Olson said. Their job is to break things with the primary goal of figuring out what needs to be done to prevent breaking.
“The idea is that if we test it worse than any farmer could ever do it and it holds up, then we’ve done our job,” Olson said. “The last thing you want to do is say ‘okay, it’s ready to go’ then they take it home and it breaks.”
Quality Control Engineers ensure the final product is up to standard and ready for the end customer.
At the dealership level, Olson said some of his students work in precision agriculture and helping customers understand the machines they need.
“These tractors kind of look like an airplane cockpit, so you have to wonder ‘what button do I push now?’” he said. “That’s a career for some of my students. They deal with customers to get them the right products and train them to use it to get the best out of it.”
Engineering positions would require a degree, but Maul said there are many manufacturing positions other than engineering.
“People without a degree can take on roles in product support, testing and evaluations,” Maul said.
Welding is also a skill that Maul said is important in manufacturing.
“It’s a skill that will take someone a long way in any industry, but particularly in agriculture,” Maul said. “We use a lot of steel. Welding is always a function that will be required.”
Mechanical aptitude is also an area of importance.
“That doesn't mean people need to be master mechanics before they come to work at Oxbo,” Maul said. “They need to have some basic understanding and be trainable. Open-mindedness and willingness to work are the basic fundamentals we’d be looking for in those roles.”
Across the board, Olson said there are some characteristics he looks for when recruiting students.
“We have a need for strong problem solvers who are smart, dedicated individuals,” Olson said. “Engineering is a very rigorous program. You don’t need a 4.0 GPA. Quite frankly, if you’re a little stubborn that helps. If you’re like ‘I’m not going to give up, I’m going to hammer through this.’ Those work out to be really good engineers because they need to sit back and analyze a problem and really understand it. Grades are one thing to get your started, but it’s more a desire and commitment to being successful.”
Another key characteristic Olson says employers look for is attention to detail.
“You’re working with pretty high-tech machinery, and if you’re taking shortcuts, it simply is not going to work,” he said.
No matter whether someone is interested in working inside or outside, with machines or with computer programs, Olson said he can identify a career in engineering or manufacturing for any interest. He encourages students not to let the stigma with the word agriculture deter them from pursuing a career in the industry.
“People have a mental picture, ‘you raise cows and drive tractors, right?’ Well, we do, but we do a few other things too. We’re getting to the point where a small, small fraction of our students are actually working directly with farms,” Olson said.
Maul also encourages people giving agricultural manufacturing a chance.
“Don’t exclude agricultural manufacturing because it doesn’t seem as glamorous as other industries might be,” Maul said. “It has a very strong future. As agriculture itself becomes more mechanized, there is going to be a need for people who specialize in precision ag and these things that cross the board between one industry and another.”
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