2019 ASHS Annual Conference

The importance of soft skills in professional and life success is not a new concept but there is growing awareness of these non-cognitive skills as part of the higher education experience, including in agriculture. In 2011 researchers identified seven soft skills needed for successful employment in agriculture, natural resources, and related careers and suggested they should be considered in curriculum revitalization. Currently, many universities successfully teach agriculture students technical skills and theoretical knowledge. However, to be successful, there is a clear and urgent need for agricultural professionals to acquire soft skills. The goal of the Urban Food Systems graduate program at Kansas State University is to prepare students for positions such as director/program managers in not-for profit organizations, city governments or extension programs in urban districts facilitating community gardens, urban farming, farmers markets, or farm-to-school programs. Thus incorporating soft-skill development within this graduate program is critical. The objective of this study was to determine what soft skills the urban food systems industry professionals (public, private, and nonprofit) expect when hiring new employees. A national survey was developed and targeted to a variety of national list serves (e.g. Comfood, North America Food System Network). Seven soft skills were examined: Experiences, Team Skills, Communication Skills, Leadership Skills, Decision Making/Problem Solving Skills, Self-Management Skills, and Professionalism Skills; and each soft skill was described through seven experiences. For example, effective written communication and communicate pleasantly and professionally are two of the seven experiences listed within Communication Skills. Respondents were asked to rank these experiences from most important to least important. Respondents were also asked to rank the seven major soft skill categories from most important to least important. Nonparametric analysis (Friedman Test) and Principal Component Analysis were used to determine differences among and within the seven groups using the statistical software XLSTAT (P < 0.05, n=73). Most of the respondents were from not-for-profit organizations (49%) or Cooperative Extension (18%) and were involved in the hiring process (67%). Overall, Professionalism Skills were ranked most important and Communication Skills and Team Skills were ranked least important. However, there were differences between those in Extension and Not-for-Profits and those that are involved in hiring and those that are not. Additionally, for most of the soft skills, there were also ranking differences across the seven experiences overall, as well as by where the respondents worked and if they were involved in the hiring process.