Ag’s recruitment challenges

ANIMAL NUTRITION INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES’ OUTLOOKS

Agriculture’s recruitment challenges

“Recruitment problems are not new; the issue has been building for some time. Encouraging young people into the sector is crucial for succession planning.”

— Gaetano Blanda, Head of the Animal Nutrition business line, Evonik

“In the short-term the market for talent is tight....In the long run we foresee a reduction of the labour force, both

for our own company but also at our farmers.” — Dick Hordijk, CEO, Royal Agrifirm

REGIONAL VARIATIONS

“It’s been a rather different experience between the US and Europe, for example. In Europe, we’ve been operating with turnover rates 4-5% lower than usual. So generally, we’ve been able to keep our workforce and it hasn’t really impacted our business that dramatically. In the US, we’ve experienced turnover rates of 25-30% in some cases depending

on the region. Those turnover rates are abating, however.” — Ismael Roig, President, ADM Animal Nutrition

“To a certain extent, labour challenges are a [long-term] Covid impact... We saw meaningful wage increases in many markets for the first time in decades. This in itself is positive, but it has broader impacts... We must find ways to lower operating costs and keep food security at the top of the agenda. Some of this will be linked to optimising technology that enables people to be as effective and efficient in their work as possible.” — Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO, Alltech

QUALITY NEEDED

“I’m less concerned about labour availability. I am more concerned about labour quality because the problem is that a lot of folks are opting for just going into the labour force with less training, particularly on the technical side. This is a structural problem that we’re seeing in the US in particular, but also to some extent in Europe. In an industry that is becoming more and more technology savvy and sophisticated, this is an issue because we need to valorise our products more and more.”

— Ismael Roig, President, ADM Animal Nutrition

“Overall, there are big differences already in labour costs between China and the rest of the world, and then you even find differences within a continent like Europe. If the current crisis affects Europe more severely, it will generate a more important gap in labour costs with other regions

and become an additional burden.” — Etienne Corrent, Business and Innovation Director, Metex Animal Nutrition

“In the agricultural sector, the political and societal pressure [is leading] to some farms closing down, whilst other farms become larger and will make use of more computerisation and machines. This amplifies the fact that attracting new, younger employees into our industry is a challenge and

will remain so.”

— Roeland Tjebbes, CFO, ForFarmers

“In the short-term, border closings, constraints to international mobility and travelling difficulties have been making things more difficult. The sooner that we, as an industry, clearly address the challenges of tomorrow and we keep investing in new technology and science, the earlier we will start to fill this gap.”

— José Nobre, CEO, AB Agri

THE EFFECTS OF RISING WAGES

“The immediate short-term challenge is that the recession will put employers in the difficult position of maintaining salary raises in line with inflation which will make recruiting and retention difficult as real wage increases (opposed to nominal) will be difficult to come by.” — Pauel Fokin, Vice President, Danisco Animal Nutrition & Health

“With sustainability and digitalisation becoming more important, the need for lifecycle assessment (LCA) experts, data scientists, etc. will increase. So, it is

not only about operators in feed mills and premix plants but also in R&D functions and even marketing…” — Ivo Lansbergen, EVP Animal Nutrition & Health, DSM

LOOKING GOOD TO RECRUITS

“In order to continue to attract young generations we, as an industry, must do a better job to demonstrate our engagement for the development of sustainable solutions… and walk the talk! Other aspects, such as responding to flexible working conditions expectations and providing appropriate resources to develop projects, are also very important.” — Jean-Marc Dublanc, CEO, Adisseo

“We are looking at the end-to-end employee experience — from hiring practices to compensation to technology that will make the lives of our production team easier.” — Ruth Kimmelshue, Senior Vice President, Cargill Animal Nutrition & Health