Food’s Future Workforce
March 8, 2023
A generational turnover in the food industry’s workforce is underway, at the same time as new skills are sorely needed throughout the food system.
The talent that drives our food system has to be technically skilled and adaptive to evolving technology. And we need to ensure growers and tech developers have seamless communication and access to each other too.
Investing in workforce development presents a huge opportunity to not only build skills that will make our food system more sustainable and resilient, but also to attract more people to the industry and power the economy.
CityAge and EMILI explored how we can foster this new workforce, retrain our current talent and drive economic growth, with a group of world-leading experts.
Brought to you in collaboration with
SPEAKERS & GUESTS
Suma Reddy
Co-Founder & CEO, Future Acres
Rajni Aneja
Managing Director, Industry Partnerships, Cornell Institute for Food Systems, Cornell University
Jonathan Webb
Founder & CEO, AppHarvest
Elizabeth Kwan
Senior Researcher, Canadian Labour Congress
Tricia Williams
Director, Research, Evaluation and Knowledge Mobilization, Future Skills Center
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson
Food and Environment Reporter, Canada’s National Observer
Jenn Pfenning
President, National Farmers Union
Jacqueline Keena
Managing Director EMILI
Alanna Koch
Farmer, Board Chair of Global Institute for Food Security, Chair of CN Ag Adv Council, Board member of SeedMaster & Cdn Ag Hall of Fame, KoHert Agri Inc.
Roman Kozak
Co-founder & CTO, Verdi
Zahra Alani
Broadcast Meteorologist & Communications Strategist, CityAge Anchor CityAge
PROGRAM
Anchor Welcome & Introduction
Fireside Chat: Diversity in the Ag Workforce
March 8 is International Women’s Day. How can we ensure that women, and other historically underrepresented groups, are given more leadership positions in the agriculture industry?
- Alanna Koch,Farmer, Board Chair of Global Institute for Food Security, Chair of CN Ag Adv Council, Board member of SeedMaster & Cdn Ag Hall of Fame, KoHert Agri Inc.
- Jaqueline Keena, Managing Director, EMILI
11:45 am Panel: Training the Future
Farmers in 2050 will need a very different skill set than those who came before them. As automation and other advances in tech transform agriculture, growers will need robust digital skills. In the midst of a worker shortage, how can we attract, train, and retain the right talent?
- Rajni Aneja, Managing Director, Cornell Institute for Food Systems-Industry Partnership Program
- Elizabeth Kwan, Senior Researcher, Canadian Labour Congress
- Roman Kozak, Co-founder & CTO, Verdi
- Moderator: Tricia Williams, Director, Research, Evaluation and Knowledge Mobilization, Future Skills Center
12:30 pm Panel: Tech + Humans: How to do it Right
Automation is transforming the farm. How should tech companies, policymakers, and investors be approaching automation? How can we ensure that the technology amplifies the work of humans on the farm?
- Suma Reddy, CEO, Future Acres
- Jonathan Webb, CEO, AppHarvest
- Jenn Pfenning, President, National Farmers Union
- Moderator: Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Writer, The National Observer
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