Jean-Claude Jouanillou, on the evolution of skills in agriculture

What is Taste?

Taste is an innovative, independent and friendly recruitment consultancy positioned in the expert executive market. Today, we work with a wide range of industries: our customers include food distributors, retailers and players in the agri-food and agribusiness sectors.

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At Taste, our DNA is innovation: we seek to understand what is innovative in the professions, in the changing world of work, and how organizations are impacted by this transformation. We observe these issues within the French Talent Studio, where we question our HR community on the transformation of work, the challenges facing their professions, and how these changes are transforming the way we attract vocations, retain talent and prepare for professions that don't yet exist.

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What do you see as the major trends in agricultural work?

I'd say that technology coming into contact with an artisanal trade is an evolution: this can be seen in luxury goods, but it can also be transposed to agriculture, where technology not only helps the farmer, but also transforms his trade. We don't farm like we used to, and so much the better! In luxury goods, craft trades are still manual trades: making a handbag or a pair of gloves means using science (materials science, chemistry, etc.) but also manual know-how. These trades are being transformed by the robotization or automation of certain tasks.

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How are skills evolving in the agricultural sector today?

Training in the agricultural sector is very much linked to farming techniques, whereas it should be just as much linked to entrepreneurship. Farmers need to ask themselves how they want to run their businesses, and develop business management skills. Leonardo da Vinci said: "the future is in nature"; here we are! Technology only comes as a support to reduce time-consuming tasks, so that the farmer can devote himself to other matters. Today, the tractor, which is symbolic for the farmer, has become a connected object. There are still many things to be imagined in order to have a better knowledge of the soil and climate on his farm, better seeds... The farmer becomes a project manager, managing several projects simultaneously - for example, field crops and livestock. Agricultural professions may seem simple, but they are in fact highly complex. Today's agricultural sector allows us to express our innermost values and aspirations, and at the same time to extend our many skills in production, distribution, sales, marketing, etc. It becomes attractive because of the development opportunities it offers. The science of life cannot be merely technical; it must be coupled with an entrepreneurial vision.

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Being a farmer involves a lot of know-how that you don't necessarily see from the outside. The new generation of entrepreneurs will have to be at the crossroads of several trades and several skills. It's a challenge! Of course, it's possible to join forces and complement each other, as in GAEC-type structures or farms taken over by several people, but we'll still need to train differently in the courses offered to enter the agricultural sector. We can learn all our lives, we have the means to do so, whether face-to-face or distance learning, there are many ways of acquiring new skills.

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It's not enough to imagine yourself in a rural environment simply because you love nature! Being a farmer requires entrepreneurial courage, and the knowledge that you're part of a major economic sector... There's a pioneering aspect to this approach that didn't exist a few years ago, but which we're seeing more and more with initiatives such as Terre de Liens, which offers financial support as well as training programs and coaching... Farming stems from an oral tradition, with new farmers being trained by their fathers, grandfathers or the person who sold them the farm... It's no longer possible to operate like that, we need processes. The way of learning and passing on is different.

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Do you think that continuing education modules will be sustainable in the agricultural sector?

Yes, I think the initiatives we're seeing today will succeed, because they weren't created in the agricultural world. Recent training initiatives have not been created by people from or who have worked in the agricultural sector, so they are freeing themselves from its codes, moving a model that has already proved its worth in other sectors and bringing it to agriculture. There's no reason why farmers shouldn't benefit from this capacity to learn, innovate and transform themselves flexibly. We're in the process of losing our agriculture. We need to re-enchant the sector and show that it's possible to do things differently. The social image of agriculture in the media can be terrible; we need to show successful models to be attractive and make this wonderful profession more desirable. I draw a parallel with the industrial sector: reindustrialization only works with territories, and each one of them must be a carrier, and thus reappropriate agriculture locally, with its specificities, its climate, its opportunities...

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We've talked a lot about entrepreneurship, but there are also difficulties in recruiting agricultural workers. Do you see the same challenges in reenchanting the profession?

Today, there is no shortage of jobs, which is a paradox. In the past, shortage trades were mainly in the building and public works sector, construction, and a few sector-specific trades. Today, all trades are in short supply, i.e. they lack meaning. As a result, companies have developed what is known as the employer brand, and are communicating about their business and their brand. Social networks, and in particular professional social networks such as LinkedIn, are an effective channel for generating attractiveness. In the agricultural sector, employer branding is still in its infancy. Beyond communication, employers may ask themselves what they have to offer their employees? Time? Training? Support? It's true that there is the problem of seasonality, which is very strong in agriculture, but if you want to secure the long-term future of an employee, there are various levers available, such as accommodation, which represents 40% of household budgets in France, and which can be a strong advantage in attracting farm employees. In addition to wages, you need to know what benefits you can offer your employees to feed them and help them grow. There's a form of solidarity in the agricultural sector that doesn't exist elsewhere, and the benefits can be something other than simply the salary: time, sharing, production...

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I think startups are vital for transforming work in the agricultural sector. They understand that human capital is as important as technology, if not more so.

A recent McKinsey study showed that economic performance combined with human support is the key to future success. Companies that take these 2 parameters into account succeed 2 to 3 times faster than others. The more human there is, the more skills and technologies can be used across the board. We see this with people trying to innovate in an unfamiliar sector: technology is nothing without the human element to adapt it to a particular context. AI and CSR will transform the world of agriculture. The entire food value chain depends on it.

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For 20 years, we've been developing a unique approach based on exchanges, networking and meetings within our professional communities.

We support organizations in their transformations, with the development of human capital at the heart and driving force of these changes.

We believe in the power of collective action, sharing and cooperation to bring about solutions for a desirable future of work and desirable organizations. The world of agriculture is a laboratory for bringing science, technology and the future of sustainable food closer together. Hectar is exemplary in opening up new avenues and inspiring vocations that will have an impact.

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