Local Engagement Outcomes

The Engine’s Workforce Leadership Stream conducted eight community workforce participant events across North Dakota. These events captured the voice of 228 North Dakotans from 44 counties in guided discussions regarding agriculture workforce needs and solutions for developing the skills needed for 21st Century food production. Three themes emerged from the session: Empowering AgTech Talent Through Education and Skills Building, Thriving AgTech Industry Start with Supportive Communities, and Reimagining the Agriculture Narrative to Inspire the Next Generation.

In response to these themes the Engine has hosted a Bayer Crop Science Hackathon, is deploying microgrants to communities in North Dakota, is training K-12 Community Technical Education(CTE) faculty to integrate AgTech into their curriculum.

The Engine is aligning with Tribal Colleges, industry, and state partners to build a unified AgTech talent pipeline.

Looking forward to years three through five we plan to launch the AgTech Workforce Innovation and Industry Center (AGWIIC) to serve as a coordinating platform for agricultural workforce development across North Dakota. AGWIIC will be a distributed, responsive infrastructure connecting partners through a streamlined administrative function, shared strategy, funding mechanisms, and evaluation systems, in response to fragmentation in the AgTech workforce.