A recent survey of agriculture interns and new graduates provides university and industry professionals with compensation information such as salaries, intern housing costs and relocation packages.
AgCareers.com, the leading human resource service provider for the agriculture industry, released the survey information in the 2008 Intern and New Grad Benchmark Report. The report studied interns and recent graduates from different companies in various sectors of the agriculture industry.
“We understand the importance of recruiting interns and new graduates to fill the pipeline of talent needed to sustain our industry,” said Mary Barefoot, human resource specialist for AgCareers.com. “The survey was conducted to supply valuable data as a resource to build these pipelines.”
The internship survey showed that interns were paid an hourly rate ranging from $8 to $16 an hour. It also revealed that 81 percent of the companies surveyed paid 100 percent of intern housing costs during their employment.
The new graduate section of the report revealed the average annual base salary for a new graduate is $50,765. The report also included additional compensation information such as health insurance benefits, relocation packages, annual leave time and bonus or commission programs. Human resource professionals said information like this is useful.
“This report provides comprehensive, easy-to-understand and meaningful data that can help agriculture human resource teams to better comprehend our industry’s changing trends so we can plan accordingly,” said Julie Le Sueur, senior recruiter for crop production services. “With more and more competition for top-quality candidates, agriculture employers need to stay current on what’s happening in our specific industry.”
This was the first year for the survey, but AgCareers.com is planning to conduct the survey on an annual basis. Barefoot said the survey will undergo format changes so participants can complete the survey online in a more user-friendly format.
“We’re going to make improvements to the survey and hope to become the industry standard that professionals can turn to,” Barefoot said. “We also hope to gain participation from additional agribusiness companies who want to help improve the industry as a whole.”
If you are interested in taking part in the 2009 survey, please contact Mary Barefoot at compensation@agcareers.com or call 1-800-929-8975. 
