The weather may have been hot last week in St. Louis, but the topics discussed at the 2008 US Agriculture Human Resources Roundtable were even hotter. More than 125 people experienced the “heat” as they attended the AgCareers.com Roundtable which took place Aug. 4 to 6 in St. Louis.

“It definitely met my expectations,” said Jenny Neef, career services coordinator at the University of Illinois. “The topics were timely and led to interesting discussion and insight into the agriculture industry.”

For the past six years, the Roundtable has provided the opportunity for industry professionals, university representatives, and association leaders to discuss effective methods for recruitment and retention within the agriculture industry. AgCareers.com President, Eric Spell, said the Roundtable is all about “synergy.”

 Spell said he was especially impressed with this year’s attendees and the synergy they shared.  “Seeing the quality of professionals at this year’s Roundtable and the passion that we all share toward improving how we recruit and retain talent is not only inspiring, but contagious,” he said.

Spell said the conference’s structure is similar from year to year, but the content changes to address up-to-date issues within the industry. He said the global look at food and energy demand was one of the main topics included in this Roundtable.

“We spent time exploring how the global demand for food and energy is influencing our local demand for talent,” Spell said. “I think the HR professionals enjoyed learning how the shifts in commodity trends are related to the global food and e