There are an abundance of different careers in agriculture, and Angela Pearen has tried several of them. Now the coordinator of the agriculture extension programs at Russ Edwards School of Agriculture and Environment, Assiniboine College, Angela has also worked helping producers diversify their farm income, and held positions in rural leadership, stakeholder engagement and strategic planning with Manitoba Agriculture. She says her role at Assiniboine College brings her back to the work she loves the most.
Describe your job or product in one sentence.
I coordinate training programs for people working in the ag industry and those that support the ag industry.
Where did you grow up? Was it an agriculture or urban environment?
I grew up in the Roseland district, southwest of Brandon on an acreage. We crop shared with our land neighbours and my parents still crop share with the next generations of that family – it’s been over 50 years.
What was your dream job when you were a kid?
The plan was for me to become a registered dietician and that changed when I saw all the options available in the then Faculty of Human Ecology at U of M. I completed a practicum with the home economics section of Manitoba Agriculture in 1994 and I knew that was where I wanted to land in my career, and luckily I was able to achieve that after getting some other experience first.
What was your first job in the agriculture or agri-food sector?
My first ag job was working a potato sorting table for a month while in university. My first professional job in ag was coordinator of Country Roads Agri-Tourism Product Club, working with producers to diversify their farm income by adding tourism experiences.
What brought you to your current role?
I worked in several roles with Manitoba Agriculture starting out in extension as a rural leadership specialist in Gladstone and working my way into management roles in strategic planning and stakeholder engagement. Although I appreciated those opportunities, I found myself missing daily interaction with industry. That’s why my role at Assiniboine College feels like the perfect fit – it brings me back to the work I enjoy most.
How does digital agriculture or agtech play a role in your current job?
Upskilling and reskilling folks into digital ag roles through training programs is one area we focus our extension programming on at Assiniboine College. With funding support from Palette Skills we offer the Digital Agriculture Fundamentals program in Manitoba as an eight-week online program. EMILI is a big supporter of this program. Students had a chance to tour Innovation Farms to learn about some of the digital agriculture technologies being tested. We also incorporate digital ag training into events we host such as Westman Winter Agronomy School. As the digital ag landscape changes, we want to ensure we provide training for the workforce to be able to adapt and adopt these technologies in real time.
What advice would you give someone considering a career in digital agriculture?
Don’t limit your career possibilities based on what you think traditional agriculture jobs are and look at all the skills you possess and how the ag industry can take advantage of those. Seeing the skill sets of the students taking our Digital Ag Fundamentals program has been eye opening and truly has shown the power of identifying transferable skills from other industries and how they fit in the digital ag world. I have worked in the agriculture sector for over 25 years and I like to say that agriculture is about growing plants, animals and people, and my career has focused on growing people.
What’s your favourite part about working in digital agriculture and agri-food?
The connections and the stories, because ag touches everyone. I also think the speed with which technology is changing and the myriad of products available is very exciting and honestly overwhelming but creates a really great story of how these technologies impact our workforce and the food we produce, manufacture and consume.
Why do you think digital agriculture is important, now more than ever?
Consumers have too many sources of information and influence when it comes to the foods they eat and how they are produced. Digital agriculture tools provide concrete data to support our producers and manufacturers in addressing misinformation in the food system.
What’s the most interesting thing you see happening in digital agriculture right now?
As someone who spends a lot of time working on training and certification for pesticide applicators, application of pesticides by RPAS when legal in Canada for ag pest control products adds another tool for producers to use. I am very interested to see how they will be used versus current ground or manned aerial application.
This profile is part of EMILI’s This is Agriculture series, highlighting talented and diverse individuals across the digital agriculture sector. While individuals working in agriculture come from a variety of backgrounds, they share a common interest in growing and strengthening Canadian agriculture to ensure an environmentally and economically sustainable future for generations to come.