As decision-makers within our companies, we’re routinely asked by vendors and customers to contribute to all sorts of causes. For my company, Produce Marketing Association Foundation for Industry Talent represents a cause we can champion because it’s very much our own cause, not just somebody else’s.

The leaders of Progressive Produce are all in our 50s. We needed to pay more attention to who would be filling our shoes; however, when left to our own devices it was too easy to push that effort behind seemingly more immediate needs.

The PMA Foundation has helped us realize that nurturing talent is an immediate need. For someone entering the industry, there is about a five-year learning curve, and it takes about 10 years to move that person into a leadership position.

Luckily for us, in 2004 the PMA board of directors decided to do something about the difficulty recruiting and retaining good people and the lack of awareness of produce as a career option. These visionaries approved creation of an independent, charitable organization dedicated to identifying and addressing the industry’s talent challenges.

The PMA Foundation is well positioned to do just that by focusing its work on sustaining future produce and floral business by attracting young professionals to enter the industry; helping professionals presently working in industry develop leadership skills to advance their careers; and helping companies establish and implement retention strategies to maintain their workforce.

Regardless of where your company is along the global supply chain or whether you are responsible for your company’s talent management or taking charge of your own career, the PMA Foundation offers a “career continuum” of programs and networking events supporting every stage of a produce career.

Stage 1: Entrance into the industry

The Career Pathways programs and university outreach targets college students. Further connecting companies to talent is a new partnership with AgCareers.com designed to expand and focus the message of openings in produce to receptive job seekers.  

Stage 2: Continuing education and networking

The Young Professionals Network includes the Emerging Leaders Program, Young Professionals Webinars and the Young Professionals Reception and develops industry professionals under age 35.

Stage 3: Mid-career advancement

The Women’s Fresh Perspectives suite of programs and coming this December, a High Performance Management Conference geared toward developing fundamental leadership, strategic execution and financial management skills for mid-career professionals.  

Stage 4: Executive enhancement

The Leadership Symposium program gives senior executives skills to enhance their leadership impact and address today’s strategic business challenges.

Where else can companies get this kind of training specific to produce? My company has used the Emerging Leaders Program, and I’ve personally attended the Leadership Symposium about five times. The perspectives I’ve gained from the symposiums have framed the basis of how I lead today. I’ve also learned a lot from the young people I’ve mentored volunteering as a Career Ambassador; the students surely aren’t the only ones to benefit.

PMA Foundation helps companies whose resources might be too small to prime and fulfill their talent needs, as well as helps larger companies fulfill talent needs that are better addressed with full supply chain participation.

PMA Foundation gives all of us the vernacular to be more thoughtful about recruitment, nurturing talent and succession planning.

But in order for this organization to help us, we need to help them. It’s the charitable donations from the industry — not PMA dues — that allow PMA Foundation to research the talent challenges in the global produce industry and provide resources and connectivity to an expanding network of people that can help us sustain the right human capital for business success in the global produce industry.

The “war for talent” and the “crisis of knowledge transfer” know no geographical limits and are common needs across our worldwide community.  

I encourage you to consider how the PMA Foundation’s programs can help move workforce planning and training higher on your to-do list. Then consider giving back. If everyone donated to PMA Foundation just $1,000 per year — and my guess is that would be a pretty affordable number for most — it would amount to a significant sum of money reinvested into the sustainability of our businesses and the industry that unites us all.

There are also many volunteer opportunities that help grow our industry’s talent, whether that’s mentoring a college student, planning a golf tournament, speaking at a career fair or serving on one of the PMA Foundation committees.

Remember, the PMA Foundation’s cause belongs to us all. Our businesses will grow only when we attract and employ the finest talent because the best and the brightest see us as the “industry of choice” and a great place for a fulfilling career.

And it will be only when we can consistently and confidently face challenges because we have the top people solving the toughest problems that fresh produce and floral businesses of all sizes, and in all places will prosper — generation after generation.

To donate, volunteer and learn more about what PMA Foundation programs best serve your training needs, visit www.pmafoundation.com.

Jim Leimkuhler, president and owner of Progressive Produce Corp., is chairman of the PMA Foundation for Industry Talent.