2020 Gateway to Ag Careers Program

Nominate a Student for the Gateway to Ag Careers Program

AgGateway, the agriculture industry’s eConnectivity and interoperability solutions organization, is offering an opportunity for students to attend its 2020 Virtual Annual Conference. As a non-profit organization that highly values eBusiness education, we will be selecting students to attend our annual conference, online – November 16–19, 2020.

The annual AgGateway conference attracts IT and business executives throughout the agricultural industry across North America. We are looking for high achieving, mature students from agriculture and/or IT departments who will benefit from the experience of meeting major eBusiness drivers in American agriculture.

We believe it is important to begin introducing the next generation of business and ag leaders to industry events prior to the completion of their academic careers. Because of this, in 2009, we initiated a program designed to give students an opportunity to participate in our annual conference and gain insights into ‘real world’ issues as well as continue to build interest in IT and ag professions.

In keeping with safety and health measures, the 2020 AgGateway Annual Conference will be held virtually. As such, we are restructuring the program to take advantage of virtual opportunities. The anticipated program includes:

A preliminary virtual meet-up the week of November 9 between selected students and AgGateway mentors to get to know each other and introduce the students to AgGateway as an organization. At this time the students and mentors will determine which sessions they will attend jointly.

During the conference, students and mentors are in contact with each other during and after sessions for more conversation on the topics. One required session will be a roundtable style session discussing the various opportunities for ag and IT professionals within member organizations. This will be a prime opportunity for participating students to ask questions and gain valuable insights about our member organizations.

The program is sponsored by the AgCIO Roundtable, a group of Chief Information Officers within the ag industry. A final required program session will be a formal presentation of each student’s work, area of interest, or other topic related to their application for the program. The student will have 5 to 10 minutes to present, after which break-out rooms will be set up between the CIOs and the students for more one-on-one conversation.

This is an excellent opportunity for students to get to know decision-makers and influencers within the agriculture technology space. Due to the program’s popularity and to maximize the networking time, we may limit participation to 10 students. 

Please submit your nominations via email using the nomination form to GTAC@AgGateway.org by Friday, October 20.

Award letters will be issued shortly after this date. Students must then verify acceptance and intent to participate. Conference details are available on the AgGateway website.