Photo by Deb Gau ADM plant manager Eric McVey and area farmer Carolyn Olson answered questions from the audience at the seventh annual State of Agriculture panel discussion in Marshall on Tuesday. Panelists talked about challenges and opportunities in agriculture from a variety of perspectives.

MARSHALL — There are a lot of challenges and opportunities ahead for southwest Minnesota agriculture — and one key need will be encouraging future generations of farmers and agribusiness workers.

“The biggest challenge we face is people, and not enough people,” said Eric McVey, manager of the Archer Daniels Midland plant in Marshall. McVey said there are a lot of job opportunities in the ag industry, but not many young people know about them.

Panelists at the seventh annual State of Agriculture panel in Marshall talked about ways to help raise awareness about job opportunities, and develop the skills and workforce needed for the industry. The discussion also touched on challenges and opportunities in agriculture from a variety of perspectives, from government policy to production farming, and manufacturing.

A couple of different audience members at Tuesday’s panel asked panelists what job skills and innovations were needed to help support agriculture. McVey and area farmer Carolyn Olson said there were a variety of possible ways to develop the ag workforce.

“We get asked all the time, what kind of skills people need. For me and for a lot of businesses in the area, the skills I need are, I need people to show up to work. I need people to be able to work together,” McVey said.

In addition to having a good work ethic and soft skills, basic math and technology skills were also useful, he said.

“I would add, look at the services that surround farmers,” Olson said.

There is also a need for skilled workers in areas like ag lending and finance, mechanics and engineering, she said.

“We need all of the people that are in that periphery,” she said.

Olson said another important part of encouraging young people to go into agriculture focused on building relationships. Being able to mentor new farmers, and treat them like peers, made a big difference.

The vitality of rural communities couldn’t be ignored in developing the workforce, either, Olson and McVey said. In order for people to stay in the region, they need to have access to services, resources like broadband internet, and more.

Economic challenges are another factor that continues to affect area farmers, said Olson and Brad Verly, president of the Lyon County Corn and Soybean Growers Association and a farm business management instructor for Minnesota West Community and Technical College.

“I would say one challenge in agriculture from the farming perspective is commodity prices, and that’s across the board, organic and conventional,” Olson said. “In February, we were trying to market some corn, and we could not get anybody to say ‘Yeah, we’ll buy corn.’ No corn contracts in the beginning of the year causes a lot of stress. It’s become a little bit better, but still commodity prices are to a point where it’s causing a lot more stress on the farm.”

Verly agreed about the concerns with falling crop prices.

“I would say it almost peaked in 2022 and we’ve had sort of a decline since then, 40% roughly on corn, maybe 30% on beans,” he said. “I think we’re going to see some deterioration at year end here, and as we look ahead, I think it will be challenging. I don’t know that anyone thinks it’s really going to turn around necessarily, we might be in a cycle like this for a while.”

However, there could still be opportunities for farmers, they said.

“I think anytime there’s a downturn in commodity prices farmers become more inventive,” Olson said. “There could be opportunities depending on if we can get some things changed on the federal level, of farmers being able to take advantage of selling feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuel and things like that.”

McVey and Olson said technological innovations could provide some opportunities for farmers and other agribusinesses. McVey said increased automation could help with some — but not all — of the challenges of a labor shortage.

“It can help with the labor shortages, it can help with training,” he said. “There’s a lot of technology, but you need people that can utilize that technology and figure out ways to make it work.”

Olson said she recently attended an event at the University of Minnesota, where universities were looking at practical applications of artificial intelligence technology. There was “exciting potential” to apply robotics or drone technology for tasks like weed control or diagnostics in the field, she said.

“But also the one thing we’re cautious on is the data and who owns it, and what happens with that data,” she said.

Agriculture policy, and the status of the Farm Bill, were also big topics at the panel. The current Farm Bill has been extended through September, but there are still a lot of uncertainties about passing a new one, said Ben Anderson, district director for the Minnesota Seventh Congressional District.

“Policy-wise right now, the Farm Bill is both the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity,” Anderson said. “In election years, everything is always unpredictable when it comes to what’s happening in Congress. We’ve already seen so many unprecedented things this year, obviously that’s just going to add to it and amplify everything.”

“The House, I’ll say, has been on schedule with their work. They got (a Farm Bill) out of committee in May,” Anderson said. “On the Senate side, they have a little more work to do.”

Depending on how things go, the change over to new members of Congress and a new administration could potentially mean the current Farm Bill needs to be extended further, he said.

One of the biggest needs with the Farm Bill would be updates to federal programs, Anderson said.

“That’s the biggest thing that we’re pushing and talking about,” Anderson said.

Verly said he would like to see updates to base acres and reference prices.

“Markets have changed, input costs have changed,” he said. “It’s just so low.” Verly said he would also like to see the Farm Bill include additional dollars to help with crop insurance premiums.