PODCAST: Increasing Diversity and Inclusion in Agriculture
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowProtests and other forms of civil unrest this summer have highlighted racial inequality. Leaders across different industries, including agriculture, are examining diversity and inclusion in their cultures, communities, and employee rolls.
At Purdue University, a chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences is helping to address some of the issues.
“The organization was built around empowering minorities in agriculture, natural resources and related sciences,” explained Zachary Brown, the national graduate student president of MANRRS and a doctoral student. “It was founded in the 1980s at Michigan State because students at the time found there was a need for support within their communities that just didn’t exist in their agricultural spaces.”
Brown joins Gerry Dick from Inside INdiana Business on this week’s episode of the Ag+Bio+Science podcast, presented by AgriNovus Indiana, to talk about diversity in the agbioscience sector.
“The events over the past few months have really shown some of the issues we have across the board. We have seen a lot of companies put out statements recognizing their own issues that they have, in terms of diversity and inclusion,” explained Brown.
He says MANRRS, which has six national regions, has been approached by companies asking how it can help facilitate change within those organizations.
Brown says companies need to remember it is more than just about recruiting and increasing the number of minority employees, it’s also about making sure the experience is going to retain those numbers.
“You can recruit all you want, but if you don’t have a system in place to retain your employees, it’s not going to be beneficial in the long run.”
The full podcast will be available Monday morning. Click here for more information on how you can listen.
Click here to read more about MANRRS.
And click here to view data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2017 Census of Agriculture which reveals the race, ethnicity and gender breakdown of Indiana farms.