Supporting Talent Development in the Ag Industry in Lancaster County

Ag Issues ForumOctober 9, 2008

Scott SheelyExecutive Director

Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board

Issues in Planning Scale of agriculture is increasing requiring

more labor beyond the farm family; Government categories have not caught

up with changes; Is agriculture just producers or is it the

supply chain, producers, and distribution chain?

How has technology changed the industry and the requirements for the workforce?

Resolution We tend to look at the supply chain,

producers, and distribution chain through the wholesale level;

We then look at the staffing pattern for the industry cluster because this is where ag talent will be found for the future;

Finally, we look at the projections for growth or decline because of growth and because of the need to replace retiring workers;

Increasingly, we look at upgrading skills of existing workers as just as important as training new workers

Occupations Farmers and Farm Managers Farm Workers Packaging Machine Operators and Hand

Packers Food Batchmakers Laborers Bakers, Meat Packers, Butchers Maintenance Mechanics and Repairers

Center of Excellence in Production Agriculture Lancaster County Commissioners Economic Development Company The Lancaster Chamber Lancaster County Workforce Investment

Board Cooperative Extension Services of

Lancaster County Lancaster County Conservation District Library System of Lancaster County

Training the Incumbent Workforce Center formed originally to put together

a series of training events to upskill the agricultural workforce;

Wide variety of training vendors… Center for Dairy Excellence Penn State Dairy Alliance Professional Dairy Managers of PA Lancaster County Conservation District Cooperative Extension Services

Training the Incumbent Workforce Subsidies to attend the Dairy

Summit, Profit Team Training, and DART activities;

Workshops in dairy feeding, reproduction, flock management, manure hauling, and pesticide application;

Activities in English and Spanish

Training Schedule in 2008-2009 Producers

Maintenance of farm equipment Artificial insemination and advanced reproduction Dairy Beef Quality Assurance program Farm safety Dairy nutrition and risk management E-coli and listeria control

Everyone Energy efficiency Alternative energy production Exporting

New Websites Center of Excellence in Production

Agriculture rolling out its new website next week…

www.KeepLancasterCountyFarming.com

Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board rolled out a new website several weeks ago…www.LancasterCountyWIB.com

Preparing the Future Ag Workforce Workforce readiness is an increasing

issue for employers; PA CareerLink of Lancaster County in

association with The Lancaster Chamber has been offering its Ready2Work program which leads to the Career Readiness Certificate; Foundational skills Workplace readiness Job finding skills

More on www.jobs4lancaster.com

Connecting with the Present Workforce

PA CareerLink offers a job board for PA employers…www.pacareerlink.state.pa.us;

More information on employer section of…www.jobs4lancaster.com

Connecting with the Future Workforce Ag careers are among the Top 40 Hot Jobs in

Lancaster that will be promoted over the next year;

Lancaster County Youth Council along with The Lancaster Chamber and the Lancaster County Career and Technology Center sponsoring Pathways to Gold Collar Career in November;

Career Camps for young people grades 4-8 in June;

New business-education partnerships in middle schools in the School District of Lancaster

Contact

Scott SheelyExecutive Director

Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board

313 W. Liberty St.Suite 114

Lancaster, PA 17603717-735-0333

ssheely@dejazzd.comwww.LancasterCountyWIB.com

Contact

Gary WillierProject Manager

Center of Excellence in Production Agriculture

100 S. Queen St.P.O. Box 1558

Lancaster, PA 17608-1558717-397-3531 ext. 134

gwillier@lcci.com