Bayer Continues to Nurture Youth Talent through F.A.R.M.ing

Now in the second year of this unique collaboration between Bayer and Fresh Harvest 365, the F.A.R.M. Mentorship Program continues to harvest success – offering expanded opportunities and hands-on career experience for underserved communities. F.A.R.M. (Fostering Ag Resilience Through Mentorship) is a U.S. Dept. of Labor-approved apprenticeship program designed to introduce agricultural career paths to those who would not typically consider them.

Following a successful second season with F.A.R.M. apprentices, the program continues to be a win-win – with students gaining on-the-job ag training and Bayer receiving summer hires who have a career interest in agriculture and are very engaged in their work.

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This year’s team of apprentices have been highly motivated and engaged in our process. They are always curious, asking questions and seeking to learn and contribute beyond just doing a job.

Pat Morgan, Ph.D.

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Plant Biotechnology Field Testing

During summer 2025, the F.A.R.M. program involved approximately 25 students from diverse backgrounds who were hired as apprentices at the Bayer Crop Science Jerseyville and Monmouth, Illinois, and Chesterfield, Missouri, locations. The apprentices worked side-by-side in the field with Ph.D.-level scientists, collecting phenotype data, learning how to do field assessments, gaining Plant Physiology skills, all while delivering high quality data for Bayer.

The program is a tremendous benefit to Bayer, helping to solve the annual challenge of finding seasonal workers who have the ag background and interest to be most effective in the field, and at the same time, helping to build a future talent pipeline for the company.

Ramping Up the Learning Experience

While F.A.R.M. apprentices continue to provide a valuable service to Bayer, the focus in 2025 was on ramping up the learning experience for these students.

New this year, the F.A.R.M. apprentices got to participate at Bayer’s annual ICS (Innovations in Crop Science) conference as part of their learning journey. ICS is an elite internal event, where Bayer researchers and engineers from across the globe gather for presentations and interactive sessions to discuss their groundbreaking research and innovations.

Their attendance offered the apprentices an incredible window into agricultural technology and advancements and an opportunity to view how their work in the field contributes to the future product pipeline. It also gave apprentices a chance to engage with some of Bayer’s top talent.

“In preparation for the visit, we worked with the apprentices to prepare them for the types of interactions that they might have,” Pat said. “They got to see the opening session of the conference to understand the scope of research happening at Bayer CS.”

The afternoon featured a Bayer Science Fellows session of invited speakers. This panel presented visions for future research directions and then took questions. One of the apprentices was the first at the mic to ask about gene editing technologies.

“After the Fellows Session, the apprentices networked with people during the poster session,” Pat said. “There were several leaders that later told me that they had met one of the apprentices and how impressed they were with them. We are truly fortunate to be part of this program helping develop the next generation of pioneers as Bayer continues to lead the way in agriculture.”