Agricultural Programs Offer a Range of Workforce Opportunities in Wisconsin
In partnership with: Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Wisconsin students are building bright futures through a wide variety of agricultural training opportunities.
When ninth-grade student Mariama Bah joined Earth Team with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), she fed two birds with one seed: As a volunteer-partner to NRCS staff, the teen bolstered her work experience while protecting the state’s natural resources. This rewarding experience allowed her to nurture her passions for climate-change solutions and science.
Hands-On Training
Earth Team volunteers learn firsthand how the NRCS helps farmers and ranchers protect and enhance their natural resources. NRCS Acting State Conservationist Eric Allness says team members work one on one with conservation professionals on private lands.
“Volunteers help create practices that will help producers stay profitable and thrive for years to come,” Allness says. “They allow the NRCS to stretch available resources and put more conservation practices on the ground.”
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Earth Team offers an assortment of services including conservation technical assistance, teaching and generating awareness about conservation and more.
Additionally, the NRCS offers students paid opportunities while they complete their education. The Pathways Internship Program gives eligible interns a potential future job with the NRCS.
“Completing an internship allows students to gain hands-on experience in the field that interests them,” Allness says. “They’ll learn whether their chosen career path is a good fit. And internships provide students with connections to professionals.”
Welcome to All
Wisconsin’s agriculture workforce continues to grow and diversify.
The State of Wisconsin Student Diversity Internship Program aims to equip women, minorities, veterans and students with a disability with professional experience in the state’s government, and it encourages students of all ethnicities, genders and ability levels to apply.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) Senior Human Resources Specialist Madeline Erce, government leaders want the state’s future employment pool to reflect its mosaic of residents.
“We hope the internships translate to our permanent workforce and we’re able to represent the diversity of Wisconsin as accurately as possible,” Erce says.
Since the program’s inception in 1974, nearly 4,000 students have been placed in internships across 30 state agencies and university campuses.
“DATCP has a mix of positions, including office-based positions,” Erce says. “This year, we hired for everything from a conservation compliance intern to a consumer protection investigator intern.”
A Dairy Good Time
“We offer our interns a wide variety of learning experiences because we have every department needed to run any major business,” says Lori Wall, senior vice president and chief human resources officer of Foremost Farms.
The dairy cooperative and producer of cheese and dairy ingredients is owned by nearly 1,000 member dairy farms and has approximately 1,100 employees across its 11-location network. Foremost Farms provides internships across human resources, finance, operations, farm field representation and lab work.
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“The company works hard to create a win-win learning atmosphere,” says Raynelle Syftestad, senior director of human resources. “Foremost Farms leaders look forward to the new ideas that interns bring to the business and the support they give to projects as they build their professional portfolios.”
The students selected for internships enjoy a competitive salary, housing assistance, project experience and professional development with dairy industry leaders.
Explore the Possibilities
State and farming leaders agree that just as crop diversity is fundamental to agricultural growth, so is the variety of individuals who work hard to conserve natural resources and produce the area’s food, fuel and fiber.
Allness, with the NRCS, says volunteering is an invaluable opportunity to explore career possibilities.
“Volunteers help reduce soil erosion, conserve our water and improve its quality, and carry the conservation message to schools – all while taking pride in our country’s natural resource heritage,” Allness says. “Whatever your talents or interests, there’s a volunteer opportunity for you.”