It used to be that it was only the competition between farm jobs and city jobs that was so tough. Now, it’s also the competition within agriculture.
As thousands more farmers get serious about retirement, many are choosing to hold onto the farm by hiring an employee to help with the long hours in spring and fall, and to take over during extended vacations.
Plus, there are all the mid-career farmers who are looking to hire staff because of their increased acreage, or because they’re diversifying or getting into value-added businesses.
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On top of that, not only is the competition for employees tough, so is the farm’s dependence on the attitudes that those employees bring to their work, not to mention their skills.
The solution is simple. It’s to become an employer of choice, so you attract the best employees, and then keep them.
“Farming is no different,” says Ronald Monette, farm business management specialist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. “Management skills and the skills of their employees are critical to the success of any business.”
Monette is seeing more and more farm employers offering training opportunities in order to achieve twin goals — attracting and retaining employees, and also adding value to their operations. Although ongoing training of both managers and employees is hard to measure, Monette believes it’s invaluable that farms operate with the proper skill sets.
Knowing when and how to upgrade those skills is a challenge, however, especially for the management skills that are so critical to farm success.
Monette’s advice is to not get trapped. Instead of trying to figure out precisely when to get involved in training, he advises making it a part of your farm’s way of doing business to be always adding skills through education and training.
“Ongoing training is a lifelong issue for anyone in business, especially farmers,” says Monette, who also works the Farm Business Development Initiative through the fedeal-provincial Growing Forward program.
Monette says the first step to improving farm management skills is to evaluate strengths and weaknesses through a self assessment (see It’s what you don’t know, page 24). This assessment will not only identify where the manager could benefit from additional training but it can also help determine where employees may need further training to create efficiencies on the farm.
Once the needs are identified, corresponding training opportunities and possible compensation can be arranged through the government program. Many other provinces are offering similar evaluation systems and support for further training, Monette recommends contacting a local agricultural ministry office for information on training programs in your region.
“A good manager is cognizant of where employees need training,” says Gary Mawhiney, human resource management program lead with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
As farm businesses become larger and more sophisticated, so do the challenges of hiring and retaining quality employees. Mawhiney points out that every agricultural sector has its own unique human resourcing problems and while some sectors are more advanced than others, all farm managers should consider employee training — regardless of whether they are hired employees or family members.
Ontario also offers an assessment program for farm managers through private companies, colleges and universities, and assists in identifying further training opportunities such as human resources, financial management, and marketing. The assessment also evaluates where employees can benefit from additional training such as welding, manufacturing, driver’s licence upgrades or safety courses. Gaining new skills not only adds value to the farm operation, Mawhiney says, but also creates a more valuable employee.
Employees or family farm workers also have a responsibility to the farm operation to identify where they need additional training or skill sets. Monette encourages farm workers to identify the skills that are needed to run the part of the operation they are working in, and then to make a list of their own existing skill sets. If there are obvious gaps between the lists — anything from running machinery to repairing equipment, welding, or even marketing — you can then talk about how education could help the employee help the farm.
Employee education doesn’t always require off-farm training or classroom education. Often, the best outcome is for employers or managers to provide guidance or mentoring to their employees. (The employee evaluation process can also be useful when discussing additional responsibilities or management opportunities within a farm operation.)
Employee training can be especially important in succession planning. Training and developing management skills in general farm labourers can help in the transitioning of management responsibilities as owners and managers get older. The reality of the aging population of farmers is also opening opportunities for employees to move up the ladder within farm businesses, says Monette.
Nor is farm succession always a matter of transferring the farm to the children. Often, the children don’t intend to return to the farm operation at all, leaving the succession to neighbours, employees or other owners of the business.
As well, the aging owners want to remain a part of the operation and may not want to sell the farm, opening opportunities for progressive employees to live and learn how to operate the business alongside the owner.
Often the hardest step is simply deciding to evaluate the farm business by looking into training and new skill
sets. Ongoing training for both managers and employees is a core piece of enhancing the viability of the farm.
The bottom line is that training and continuing education provide value. That value is realized in increased profit when training an employee or manager to be more qualified for their position, an increase in employee engagement in the operation that will result in increased production, and a reduction in employee turnover rates that will reduce hiring costs. “Farmers are focusing more on management and not just production,” says Monette. “Good management starts with a good set of skills.” CG
