Agricultural Ranking among all U.S. States, 2015

Total Agricultural cash receipts #5 -Sugarbeets #1 -Sweet Corn #1 -Green Peas #1Livestock cash receipts #8 -Turkeys #1 -Hogs #2Agricultural exports #4 *1/3 of the state’s total merchandise exports

A Profile of Agriculture in Minnesota

Real-Time Insights by Real-Time Talent

Focus on AgricultureContents

• Agriculture in Minnesota .................1

• Farm-Based Work ................................2

• Agricultural Finance ..........................3

• About Real-Time Talent ....................4

Top 12 Employers of Farm Workers

Ranking, population distribution, and marketing calculations from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, 2015.

Crops 53%$10 Billion (2014)

Livestock 47%$9 Billion (2014)Northwest: Sugarbeet, Wheat

Northeast: Forest AreaWest Central: Cash GrainsCentral: Dairy, Cattle, CropsSouthwest: Crops, HogsSouthern: Crops, Dairy, HogsTwin Cities Metro

Total Farms

74,542

Population Distribution Rural 23%

Urban 77%

MINNESOTAMarch 2016

Multiple data sources help to estimate the agriculture hiring needs of

businesses across the state. Current online job postings show us which

counties might have smaller pools of candidates to choose from or higher

competition for new workers.

Olmsted County, MN may have the largest candidate pool of agricultural workers in the state, followed closely

by Wright, Scott, Anoka, Hennepin, and Ramsey Counties. Sibley County and Mower County have low agriculture

job volume and candidate supply, but generally higher salary ranges for jobs

posted online.

393 Jobs for Agricultural Workers Online (+73.1% since 2015)

Highest Salary Ranges by County

Sibley County $35K-45K

Mower County $35K-41K

*Agricultural Workers: SOC 45-2000

Hiring Agricultural WorkersJanuary 1 - March 15, 2016

Farm-Based WorkOnline job postings are becoming increasingly popular for seeking agricultural labor talent in Minnesota. Since 2013, farms and agricultural operations of all sizes have increased the number of job vacancies they post online. In the first two and a half months of 2016, there were 73.1% more agricultural worker positions advertised online than in the prior year. This may suggest that approaches to seeking new talent could be shifting gradually. However, online postings remain far too limited and inconsistent to be the sole source of information on farm-based labor.

Salaries of agricultural workers continue to increase steadily, but with seasonal fluctuations. The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) found that agricultural workers in Minnesota had a median hourly wage of about $14.55 per hour in quarter 4 of 2015, consistent with the median salary observed in online job postings across the state ($27,650). Both real-time online job posting data and DEED calculations found that about 22% of agricultural worker jobs were full-time seasonal positions.

Candidate Supply of Agricultural

Workers by County

Occupations Top Employers in 2015 Top Hard Skills and Experience Required Statewide Demand Median SalaryFarm Worker Occupations - - 17 Candidates / Job Opening $27,650

951 jobs in 2015, +14% since 2014Cattle and Dairy Livestock Worker 1) Koehler Dairy 1) Quality Control 64 Candidates / Job Opening $25,450

Dairy Farm Worker 2) State of Minnesota 2) Artificial InseminationMilker 3) Land O'Lakes 3) Good Manufacturing PracticeParlor Milker Cow Pusher 4) Riverview Community Bank (Morris, MN) 4) Equipment Maintenance (Evaporator, Triple C, Fluid Bed)Herdsman 5) Proliant Meat Ingredients 5) Animal Health (ration balancing software)

1) Valley Staffing Inc. 1) Commercial Driver's License 11 Candidates / Job Opening $31,6002) Harvest Land Cooperative 2) Experience operating a combine

Custom Combine Operator 3) Seneca Foods Corporation 3) Equipment MaintenanceAgricultural Equipment Operator 4) Running Aces Harness ParkCrop Assistant 5) Olsen Custom Farms, LLC

Poultry Workers and Breeders 1) Jenny-O Turkey Store 1) Artificial Insemination 26 Candidates / Job Opening $34,250Poultry Farm Specialist 2) Life-science Innovations 2) Equipment MaintenanceFarm Manager 3) GNP Company 3) Good Manufacturing PracticeInsemination Operator 4) New Life Farms 4) Animal Health

5) Willmar Poultry Farms 3) Project ManagementSwine Technician 1) Christensen Farms 1) Animal Health 6 Candidates / Job Opening $28,100

2) Holden Farms 2) Artificial Insemination3) Wakefield Pork Inc. 3) Herd Management4) Valley Staffing Inc. 4) Artificial Insemination

Swine Farm Manager Swine Herdsperson Animal Care Worker Sow Farm Manager 5) Hugoson Pork Inc. 5) Record Keeping

Tractor, Combine, or Harvester Operator

Median Wage Offer for Agricultural Workers in Minnesota2010-2015, Quarters 2 and 4 of the DEED Job Vacancy Survey

Types of Farm-Based Jobs Available in MinnesotaJanuary - March 2016

Employers Advertising Agrofinance Positions in Minnesota

Real-time data used in this report: Farm-based job posting data was pulled on 3/22/2016 and Agricultural finance job data was pulled on 3/29/201 from Wanted Analytics (www.wantedanalytics.com) to show specific findings in farm-based work, agribusiness, and food processing jobs in the state of Minnesota. All online postings spidered from thousands of websites are included in this report, including staffing firms. Percents show change from 2014. Changes in real-time data counts for this time period may occur due to improved access to or cleaning of data, and counts are accurate as of the date pulled. For details on the search definitions used, please contact erin.olson@realtimetalentmn.org. 1) Bjerga, Alan. “Cargill Joins Wells Fargo, Deere in Retreat from Crop Insurance.” Bloomberg Business. January 26, 2016. 2) Meersman, Tom & Ramstad, Evan. “Wells Fargo sells Anoka-based crop insurance unit to Zurich Insurance Group.” Star Tribune, December 18, 2015.

Agricultural Finance Agrofinance Positions Posted Online in Minnesota Counties

2015, by Required Experience Level

Occupations Top Employers in 2015 Top Hard Skills and Experience Required Statewide Demand by ExperienceMedian Salary

Agrofinance 1) Cargill (242 jobs, +32.2%) 1) General Ledger Software 15 Candidates / Job Opening $82,250Accountant 2) Wells Fargo (83 jobs, +112.8%) 2) Credit Risk Assessment Entry (0-2 years): 31 Candidates $65,250Credit Analyst /Financial Analyst 3) AgStar Financial Services (79 jobs, +12.9%) 3) Loan Servicing Mid-Level (3-7 years): 20 Candidates $79,850Auditors 4) CHS Inc. (64 jobs, +1.6%) 4) Enterprise Resource Planning Software Senior (8+ years): 8 Candidates $97,300Financial Examiners 5) AgriBank, FCB (47 jobs, +327.3%) 5) Customer Relationship Management

Agricultural finance is critical to support the growth of the agricultural sector in Minnesota. It is foundational to establishing food security, creating additional agricultural jobs, and spurring continued economic growth. Cargill Inc., the largest privately held company in the U.S., took steps to sell a crop insurer in December 2015 in response to uncertainty about federal aid for agriculture.1 Wells Fargo, the largest bank in the U.S. by market value, announced a similar decision in 2015 which led to the sale of an Anoka-based crop insurance unit to Zurich Insurance Group in December.2 As a result, some early changes in hiring patterns for agricultural finance work are apparent. Wells Fargo increased the size of its agricultural finance team in Minnesota in recent years with job postings increasing by 112% between 2014 and 2015. However, agricultural finance job postings for the company are currently down by 89% as compared to last year. Cargill posted 48 agricultural finance positions in the first quarter of 2016 (78% more than 2015), but instead of insurance brokers and loan officers, a text analysis of job postings shows that Cargill is hiring for more senior-level operations roles in risk assessment and credit analysis.

Overall, online job postings for agricultural finance workers have increased by 10.4% between 2015 and 2014. Large companies are increasing their agricultural finance recruitment efforts, particularly Wells Fargo (+112%) and AgriBank (+327%). Further investigation is required to determine if this increase reflects new job creation or is primarily the result of job replacement. The need for senior level agricultural finance workers is higher in the Twin Cities metro than other Minnesota counties. Hennepin, Dakota, and Ramsey counties had the highest numbers of agricultural finance jobs posted for the past three years, as well as the highest percentage of senior level positions posted (Hennepin: 37%, Dakota: 27%, Ramsey: 26%). Statewide, 26% of all agricultural finance job postings required eight or more years of experience in 2015, a slight decrease from 30% in 2013 and 2014. There are significantly fewer qualified applicants for senior-level agricultural finance positions in Minnesota, and may be more difficult vacancies to fill.

+10.4% statewide

Real-Time Talent is a unique public-private collaborative, whose leaders represent Minnesota’s higher education, workforce system, and key industries. Our aim is to support higher education and workforce systems to become more market-oriented and data driven in order to meet pending workforce shortages head on. We do this by introducing new tools and reinforcing the use of existing tools to align decisions to labor market needs, establishing a culture of cross-sector collaboration.

As we ramp up our work in Minnesota, we define our work in the following ways:

• Help employer associations and chambers of commerce to support employers in meeting their talent needs

• Help academic leaders choose which programs to start, stop, scale up, or scale down to meet the needs of their students and the economy

• Help academic, nonprofit, and workforce center counselors support students and job seekers in choosing educational investments and securing employment

• Help government agencies, foundations, and policy makers

understand and support the current job market

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to more than 600 stakeholders who helped us determine the best way to effect positive change in Minnesota’s workforce and over 300 users who are testing out Wanted Analytics, a real-

time data tool. Without the support of these leaders in the private sector, government, higher education, non-profit organizations, and foundations who have devoted their time and resources to Real-Time Talent, we would not be where we are today.

We invite you to subscribe to our quarterly newsletters by visiting our website at www.realtimetalentmn.org, where you will find additional reports and resources on Minnesota’s workforce. If you have any questions about the findings presented in this report or have a particular research request, please contact us at:

651-325-4277 or erin.olson@mnpartners.org

A Catalyst for Change

Ensuring the talent to meet the needs of Minnesota

employers