F.A.R.M.: Fostering Ag Resilience through Mentorship

Fresh Harvest 365, provides hands-on career experience for underserved communities while filling an industry need for ag talent.

Most days, you’ll find Pat Morgan in the field. He and the other scientists on his team dedicate a lot of time and resources to counting plants, measuring their development and productivity, and taking tissue samples.

Afterall, the seeds they plant – being tested in the ground for the first time – are contenders for a coveted spot in the lineup for the company’s Breeding, Biologics, and plant Biotechnology pipelines.

Tracking data on a ‘per plant’ basis, with every single seed followed throughout its life cycle, is no small effort: “This year we ran 55,000 plots, and we’re collecting a little over 3 million data points,” Pat said. “It takes an army to get this work done, and you need to have some level of knowledge going in to really be effective.”

A new initiative offers a unique solution to bringing more skilled ag workers to the field. Bayer is collaborating with St. Louis startup company, Fresh Harvest 365, as part of a new F.A.R.M. (Fostering Ag Resilience Through Mentorship) program.

F.A.R.M. pulls students from diverse backgrounds in St. Louis and from several regional universities into an apprenticeship program, which includes 210 hours of e-learning courses and 3,000 hours of on-the-job training in agriculture. The on- the-job training portion of the apprenticeship was a perfect fit for Bayer.

F.A.R.M. program apprentices in the field in Monmouth IL.

During summer 2024, a F.A.R.M. pilot involved about 30 students from diverse backgrounds who were hired as apprentices at the Bayer Crop Science Jerseyville and Monmouth, Illinois, and Chesterfield, Missouri, locations. Several St. Louis non-profit organizations also joined the pilot to provide additional support such as transportation, housing, mentoring, and workplace readiness.

The program offered invaluable experience to the students, according to Jennifer Becker, who initiated Bayer’s collaboration with FreshHarvest365. “The apprentices worked side-by-side in the field with Ph.D.-level scientists, collecting phenotype data and learning from them,” she said.

The program also has been a benefit to Bayer, solving the annual challenge of finding seasonal workers who have the ag background and interest to be most effective. “The hires from Fresh Harvest come to us with ag training and an interest in making agriculture a career field,” Pat said.

The St. Louis University City School District recently introduced an Ag Program track to its curriculum. Thanks in part to awareness generated by the F.A.R.M. pilot, enrollment in the Ag track for the 2024/25 school year increased from about 16 students to nearly 100 students. Several other school districts with similar demographics would like to follow suit with ag programming options for their students.

In January 2025, Bayer will expand its offerings, including bringing around 40 local community college students to its Urbandale, Iowa, and Whitestown, Indiana, facilities.

Following the success of the pilot, the team expects to expand regionally into a broader vision “IM IIN,” which aims to open opportunities in the states of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska by the end of 2025. Fresh Harvest has initiated conversations with Iowa State University and University of Nebraska- Lincoln about expansion opportunities with possible placement at Bayer facilities.

Jennifer is proud to see how quickly Bayer’s collaboration with FreshHarvest365 has grown.

“I have almost 30 years with the company, and it is certainly a highlight of my career,” Jennifer said. “It is heartwarming to be involved in something that has such huge impact for our organization and for the students, providing new ways for our organization to work with the community and to support the next generation of ag leaders.”

Article Source: https://www.bayer.com/en/us/news-stories/fostering-ag-resilience-through-mentorship