Key Stakeholder Perceptions of the Michigan Food and
Agricultural Sector Workforce Development System:
A Qualitative Study Using Grounded Theory
Laura Bogardus
Clemson University
August 13, 2014

Key Stakeholder Perceptions of the MI Food &
Agricultural Sector Workforce Development System
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Method
• Results
• Implications / Future Research

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Introduction
• Global Food Protection Institute, Battle Creek, MI
• Clemson Comprehensive Examination Component
• Grounded Theory, Qualitative Study
– Preliminary
– Part of a Larger Study

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Literature Review
• About the Food & Agriculture Cluster in MI
– 2 nd Strongest Industry Cluster: Food & Agriculture
– $91.4B Annual Economic Impact, 923,000 Jobs
– 2013-2015: 90,000 Food & Ag Jobs (10% increase)
– 47% Food Processing; 30% Farming; 22% Wholesale/Retail
• No Coordinated System for Supplying Workers
– Food Processing & Manufacturing; Farm Workers
– Domestic, Seasonal, Migrant Workers
– High School & Below; Tech Certificate (1 to 2 Yr deg); 4 Yr and up

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Method
• Stakeholder Perceptions
– Staffing & Placement, Employer Associations, Unions
– Education, Government, Industry, Workers, Foundations
• Research Plan Developed
• Proposal Approved by Committee, IRB, GFPI
• Research Plan Implementation

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Method
• Grounded Theory – Exploratory, Iterative
• Generative Questions
– Your involvement? What’s working? What’s not? What issues need to be addressed? By whom? Why?
– List of Organizations, Stakeholders
• Associations, Unions, Staffing & Placement Agencies
• 90 Prospective (28 Assoc; 20 Other; 34 Staffing; 8 Union)
• 45 Contacts
– Interview Protocol & Questions
– Stakeholder Contact – Email & Phone
• 30 Subject matter experts interviewed 10 Assoc; 5 Other; 12 Staffing; 3 Union)

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Method
• Core Concepts Identified
1. Public perceptions of the industry
2. Increasing use of technology in work processes
3. Traditional nature of industry
4. Links between education tiers, industry
5. Domestic, seasonal, migrant farm worker issues

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Method / Results
• Links between Core Concepts and Data
3.
Traditional Nature of Industry
• Low use of Internet job postings, government work supports
• Frustration with labor regulations
• High use of local networking to find workers
• Gender, race, age of farmers, owners
4.
Links Between Education Tiers, Industry
• ONET and SOC codes do not sync with Career Cluster curriculum
• Enrollment up in higher ed
5.
Domestic, Seasonal, Migrant Farm Worker Issues
• Few staffing agencies
• Fewer domestic workers and fewer migrant workers
• Improvements in housing, coordinated efforts to recruit migrants

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Method / Results
• Key Analytic Strategies
– Coding, Memoing, Diagrams
• New Observations, Revisions, More Data
• Core Concept(s) Identified, Detailed
• Report combined, sent to Michigan Dept. of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD)

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Implications / Future Research
• Further research to validate this limited qualitative study
• Study best practice examples / innovative solutions
– MSU Agriculture Technology Inst. / FFA of Michigan
– Apprenticeship Development
– FFA / K-12 programs and Industry
– Industry Partnerships
– New methods for farm worker recruiting and onboarding
• Reconcile ag industry data and jobs data
• Develop job posting tool

MI Food & Ag Workforce Development System
Implications / Future Research