b'DIVERSITYIMAGINE STANDINGin a room of dozens, or even hun-dreds, and being the only person of your gender or nation-ality. Would you feel isolated? Would you feel encouraged to share your ideas? For minorities in agriculture, this used to be the NEEDS TO BE A norm but times are starting to change.Of course, when it comes to actually hiring diverse candidates, there are questions and challenges that arise. Experts across the seed industry have come together at BIGGERboth the American Seed Trade Associations (ASTA) Policy and Leadership Development Conference and in Seed Worlds latest Seed Speaks episode to talk through those questions and chal-lenges to provide you with some helpful ideas. TOPIC IN SEED Have Diversity Top-of-Mind Before HiringWhen it comes to understanding and learning more about diver-sity, Kellie Adesina, director of government affairs at Bayer, says that having more interactions is imperative. There are a lot of smart, young people at these 1890 land-grant universities, and I believe the industry doesnt use and Creating an inclusive workforce is moreinteract with them as much as we should, she says. Instead, building intentional relationships with these univer-than just meeting a numbers goalsities can help create better and more lasting partnerships. In or checking a boxits fostering anaddition, when it comes to sharing information about internships and jobs, Adesina says to provide information to more diverse environment where everyone and everyuniversities.idea is welcome. Alex Martin and Sonja BegemannToo often, we see information being shared in the same routes, and people will come back and say: Oh, we werent able to find your diverse people, she says. Theres opportunities to engage with other organizations such as MANRRS [Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences].Exposure at a younger age, such as at the high school level or early college level, is an important way to encourage our young leaders to get involved, Carissa Jackson, PhD student at the University of Maryland, says. Karis Gutter, U.S. government industry affairs lead at Corteva, says its simpler than that.Hire, invest and think diversity in everything you do through-out your programs, he says. If youre intentional about diver-sifying your portfolios, we tend to have to have a stronger organization and a more profitable organization. The biggest challenge Gutter sees agriculture right now is the lack of diverse voices. Diversity is an extreme asset, because it expands our tent and brings more voices into the fold of agriculture, he says.Dont Miss Out on OpportunitiesAnother challenge Adesina sees is missing out on opportunities to fold in diverse voices. Ive noticed that sometimes, people dont always value dif-ferent perspectives, she says. You lose out on potential people that can provide the perspective.One key component of this challenge is the U.S. moving from a more rural background to a more urban background. When you move into a less global mindset and into a more suburban/urban mindset, you need to have these different per-20/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2021'