When Richard Charles told his careers master at school that he wanted to be an agricultural engineer, he was "ushered out of the room as the master hadn't a clue what that meant!"

 

Today, Richard is Manager Aftersales Customer and Training  UK and Ireland for the AGCO Corporation and it is just one of the stories he tells about the challenges of finding new and talented recruits for the Agri-Turf industry in the latest episode of the Inside Agri-Turf podcast.

 

"The problem is that we are seen as a 'closed shop',"he says, "and somewhat incestuous with most vacancies being filled by people already working in the industry. We really ought to be looking to recruit from largely untapped resources, such people leaving the Services."

 

He also says that the industry needs to develop a clear identity and when the opportunity arises to exhibit at skills fairs, it should do so as an industry rather than letting individual companies be represented.

 

Richard also talks about the impact of COVID restrictions on AGCO's current apprenticeship programme and the company's own training schedule.

 

He also talks about the challenges of providing training for the four brands in the AGCO portfolio. “We are focussed on the individual brands,” he says, “and this can result in some duplication in training courses for dealers.”

 

He said that the industry is still too 'gender-fixated' (e.g male dominated) and says that other industries such as construction, railways, automotive seem to have a significant proportion of female employees and that they are often featured in media coverage.

 

As to the reasons why people chose to leave the industry, it was rarely because of pay or working conditions. “We need to make people feel important and valued, and provide them with guidance rather than instruction to figure out problems for themselves.”