Workforce Development Committee

Objectives and Responsibilities

• Facilitate sharing of member best practices
• Provide and steward industry partnerships
• Offer industry education opportunities for workforce development
• Support the integration of technology/AI into the workforce process

2026 Priorities

Goal 1: Facilitate sharing of member best practices

• Share best practices through meeting presentations and AEM platforms.
• Create a “bank” of best practices in the Workforce toolkit.
• Annually review the toolkit to see if we can make any revisions to convey best practices faster or with an easier user experience. 

Goal 2: Provide and steward industry partnerships

• Invite industry partners to present at committee meetings.
• Highlight member engagement through member stories in the Advisor Newsletter and AEM social media.
• Promote and continue engagement with FFA, Agriculture Futures of America (college program), Skills USA and others

Goal 3: Provide workforce development education

• Support workforce education at Annual Conference.
• Facilitate an annual workforce webinar.
• Support AEM event education around workforce as needed.
• Promote engagement with the Curriculum for Agriculture Science Education (CASE) curriculum such as the Technician curriculum (free to high schools) and support teacher scholarships for high school teacher training on CASE Curriculums.

Leadership

• The Chair is elected by the group and serves a two-year term.
• The Vice Chair is elected by the group and serves until Chair succession.

Composition

• Executive-level representatives from AEM member companies.
• 8-10 OEM Members
• Up to 6 service members

Meetings Overview

• This committee meets the second Friday of each month from 9-10:15 CT during the months of February-October. An optional meeting for this committee takes place in person at Annual Conference in a casual setting.

Staff Liaisons

• Julie Davis, SVP People Strategy