Career Management and Succession in The Agricultural Sector: Exploring Motivation, Vocational Identity and Digital Skills

Indonesia's farm workforce is aging faster than it is being replaced: in the 2023 Agricultural Census, only 1.24% of individual farm operators were aged 15–24. This study explores how career motivation, vocational identity and digital skills take shape among agricultural vocational students, how they differ between early- and final-semester students, and what this implies for career management and succession. Eight students of the Plantation Crop Production Technology Study Program, Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya, were selected by purposive sampling stratified by semester (four in semester 2, four in semester 8), interviewed in semi-structured format, and their accounts analyzed with Reflexive Thematic Analysis. On career motivation, participants came to see agriculture as a knowledge-based field, and all of them ranked job stability above income. On vocational identity, confidence in their career choice sat at 7–8 out of 10 and grew through practice and internships. Final-semester students held more realistic and specific career images, one participant moved toward laboratory research rather than field work, and obstacles were handled with strategies participants worked out on their own. On digital skills, social media changed how participants saw the sector, yet few had used agricultural technology themselves, mostly because neither campus nor internship sites had the equipment. For career management and succession, the findings point to structured experiential learning, hands-on digital training, and open communication of the full range of agricultural career paths.