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Labor shortage impacting poultry sector

A labor shortage is plaguing employers and the poultry industry is searching for answers.

Minnesota Turkey Growers executive director Brad Finstad is new to the role and tells Brownfield he looks forward to working with other commodity groups to find solutions.

“With the help of partners from the education system and workforce development agencies through the state to really try to help move the needle forward on that issue.”

He calls ag labor a “complex” issue and says one of the challenges is making young people aware of opportunities that exist.

“I think from an immigration standpoint, it’s definitely a federal issue that needs to be addressed in regards to the workforce flow and how that works. So there’s a lot of different levels and tiers to it (starting) at the local level maybe in our classrooms (and) FFA programs.”

Finstad suggests from both a local and state perspective, schools can be incubators.  At the federal level, he’d like to see politics set aside to address worker shortages that he says are expanding beyond the ag sector.