Enlightening students about agricultural career paths

MARSHFIELD, Wis. — Nurturing and fostering youth is the goal of the Power of Ag Career Expo, held annually in Marshfield, as part of the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Marshfield Area Career Expo.

“The job opportunities in agriculture are endless,” said Nancy Esser, superintendent of the University of Wisconsin’s Marshfield Agricultural Research Station. “This area in particular is so rich in the agricultural industry, and we want to keep our talented young people here, to make sure these industries have the future labor they need.”

This year’s Power of Ag Event, held April 10 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Marshfield’s campus, welcomed more than 250 high school sophomores from nine central Wisconsin schools. The event featured more than 20 agricultural businesses, ranging from dairy farms and large animal veterinarians to crop seeding drones, farm safety, processors, financial institutions and others.

The Power of Ag event is orchestrated by the Chamber’s agribusiness committee. Ron Zygarlicke, product and marketing manager with H&S Manufacturing Company Inc., serves as the committee’s chair. He works with many invested committee and community members to make the event happen, including Esser.

The event is the result of a grant awarded to the committee through the 2018 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days held in Wood County.

“We started planning the first event and then with the pandemic, everything shut down,” Esser said. “This is now the fifth year we’ve hosted the event. Each year we learn ways to continue to improve and grow.”

In its first years, the event was held at H&S Manufacturing Company, but growth in both student attendance and business participation prompted the committee to seek out a larger facility. The event moved to the UW-Stevens Point at Marshfield in 2025.

The event has been well received and supported by the central Wisconsin agribusiness community, Zygarlicke said.

“Our business community believes in what we’re doing,” Zygarlicke said. “They’ve stepped up and come through with great sponsorship of the program. With their support, in addition to the grant money provided from the Wisconsin Farm Technology Days show, we are confident that this is a program that we will be able to provide for many years to come.”

Esser said she believes that by targeting sophomores, the educational value of the program will be able to have the greatest impact.

“We chose to gear the program towards sophomores because they are at the stage of their schooling where they are starting to think about what direction they want to take in their lives,” Esser said. “Juniors and seniors are already becoming more committed to the ideas they developed earlier.”

Industry professionals use the time to engage with students, sharing their businesses and their roles within the industry.

Betty Lund, producer relations manager for Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Company, said the program plays a valuable role in making students aware of agricultural careers.

“A lot of students, especially those without the benefit of an agricultural background, think that agriculture is just cows and tractors,” Lund said. “There is so much more, and this is a great way to open their eyes to what is available to them, potential career opportunities they may have never previously considered.”

Esser agreed.

“This event puts those working professionally in ag-related businesses face-to-face with hundreds of area students,” Esser said. “There, they have the ability to impact students who are preparing to make next-step choices, and enlighten them in the numerous career paths in agriculture.”

Helping to create a workforce prepared to lead the future of agriculture is the goal of the event, Esser said.

“We want to keep our youth here in central Wisconsin,” Esser said. “To do that, we have to let them know that there is a lot more to agriculture than welding farm equipment or milking cows. We need people who can fly drones, we need people in accounting, finance and insurance. Sometimes people involved in agriculture don’t even realize they are — like the trucking industry, but we need them to move our products, our inputs and our equipment.”

Next year’s event is tentatively planned for April 9, 2027.