Agriculture industry faces ‘war for talent’ over gender divide
LEADING figures in the agriculture industry have called for increased efforts to tackle the gender divide in the sector.
A conference of more than 300 delegates from 26 countries, held in Amsterdam, heard the industry was dominated by men and that many women felt they were treated differently from male colleagues in similar roles.
Dr Mark Lyons, president of Alltech, the American-owned animal feeds business which sponsored the event, said the “war for talent” was “a crisis” facing the sector.
“We cannot lose great people because they perceive the ag industry as male-dominated,” he said.
Jane King, chief executive of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the levy authority funded by farmers and growers in Britain, said: “It felt as if a movement had begun to drive change. We should encourage diversity in all forms – it will help the industry to embrace change effectively.”
Lena Johansson, political editor-in-chief at the Swedish agricultural publication Land Lantbruk, said: “If agri-food businesses are to cope with future challenges, it is necessary that both women’s and men’s skills be utilised.”
Christine Tacon, of Management Development Services, a Peterborough firm which runs a graduate scheme for future leaders in the sector, added: “Women entering the industry should have no inhibitions about what they could do or how far they could get.”
The conference followed research last year from the United Nations which suggested that women had to work twice as hard as men to succeed in the agriculture industry.
It reported that “the gap between rural men and rural women is steadily widening” but that “no biological imperative” existed for men to “maintain a stranglehold on technology”.