They talked about the shortage of skilled labour and the growing need for finely-honed computer ability in farming today.

They chewed over the value of agricultural college degrees and the necessity to understand pro-active communications so those entering the business can effectively act as knowledgeable ambassadors.

But often, the talk in a focus group organized by Kemptville College of Agricultural Technology April 5 circled back to that old chestnut... the work ethic.

Give us an applicant with limited advanced education and an overdose of work ethic and we can mold him or her into a useful hired hand, said the group of farmer/employers gathered around the table in the W.B. George Centre. On the other hand, agri-business representatives such as rural banker Hugh O’Neil were insistent about degrees being among the qualifications for new hires.

The gab session - in which this AgriGab’er was invited to participate - was one of a series of focus groups being held on University of Guelph campuses at Kemptville, Ridgetown and Guelph as Ontario’s primary agricultural teaching network tries to get a handle on just what their customers want these days.

So what did this scribe contribute? Well, I’m a communicator so I naturally focused on my forte, telling my rapt - my word, not theirs - colleagues how important it is these days for the farm community to be expert communicators, what with your Walkertons, and your GMOs and other food safety issues, and your global subsidy wars, etc.

Others at the table agreed that farmers and the agri-food industry are usually behind the eight-ball when it comes to getting the good word out there, often playing catch-up after the horse is out of the coral.

The Kemptville session was actually a two-for-one deal with the "English" group in one room and the "French" group - Alfred College and friends, including director Gilbert Heroux - in another room.

Coordinating the entire exercise province-wide is none other than KCAT director Bill Curnoe who must oversee the distillation of piles of information and comments gleaned during the sessions into an interim report followed by a final report.

"The university is like any other business which, from time to time, needs input from the industry it serves to ensure it’s providing a service of value," Curnoe observed. "The university must continue to evolve while keeping pace with modern technology and our graduates must possess the necessary skills and knowledge to contribute to the success of the industry."

While much of the chat was general in nature, Curnoe and his assistants got participants to home in on one very specific issue: Should a three-year applied degree be introduced to bridge the gap between the currently offered two-year diploma program and the four-year honours B.Sc degree?

The presumed benefits of the new degree were summarized for focus group’ers: An attractive option for a wider range of high-school graduates; a broader pool of potential employees for the industry; an opportunity for upgrading for previous diploma grads; a seamless series of education programs in agriculture and food.

After kicking the three-year degree topic around the table, a consensus seemed to emerge that it would be a good thing, a way to attract new students into agricultural education programs.

With Statistics Canada numbers showing more than 70 per cent of those working in Canadian agriculture today have no post-secondary education, with the university’s own numbers showing a steady decline in the four-year degree program, and with job opportunities in agriculture outnumbering graduates, it’s obvious tweaking of some kind is needed.

For this focus groupie, the experience was worthwhile. Hey!, a few hours spent at KCAT on a beautiful spring day with like-minded folks and a free lunch thrown in... what’s not to like.