Supporting Diverse Ag Talent through MANRRS
Challenge
Land O’Lakes recognized that our intern pipeline was not as diverse as it should or could be, across business units and departments.
Actions
Land O’Lakes began a relationship with MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences) in 2014. Today, we are a top (titanium level) company sponsor of the national organization, which has more than 60 university and college chapters across the country. Support from across the company has been overwhelming, from business leaders like Dave Hoogmoed, EVP and COO, Purina Animal Nutrition, to corporate headquarters employees, to our facilities employees, and many of our former interns too. We have a broad and diverse team of Land O'Lakes employees from our businesses and functional departments, who are all involved on the newly formed Land O'Lakes MANRRS Steering Committee.
Outcomes
In March 2018, we launched a MANRRS steering committee with 19 members representing all business units to help lead our recruiting strategy.
In 2014, we had one intern identified through the MANRRs program. Fast forward four short years to the summer of 2018, we’ve welcomed nearly 20 MANRRS interns this year alone to our corporate headquarters, to our sales teams and to our facilities across the country.
Contact
Leah Lamon
Quote
Working together and including diverse voices and ideas is rooted in Land O’Lakes’ history as a cooperative. Our employees and our members need to always feel heard and valued for who they are, and that’s why I am proud to sign the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge.