Smart Ways to Hire and Keep Good Farm Workers

Walk down any Main Street in any town and you’ll see “Help Wanted” signs in the windows of restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses. 

With the national unemployment rate hovering around 4%, finding employees is difficult, no matter the location. According to a survey by the employment company Manpower, 70% of U.S. employers said they were unable to find suitable employees for current job vacancies. 

Agricultural employers face additional challenges, including higher wages being offered in other industries, an aging rural population, young people leaving rural areas, migrant workers becoming settled, and changing immigration policies.

Can Ag Compete?

Shannon Sand is a regional Extension educator at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She led a session on hiring employees at the Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference earlier this year.

Sand said competition is a big reason farmers are struggling to find labor. She shared the case of a feedlot in northeast Nebraska that pays $25 per hour but is losing employees to a nearby trucking company. Workers are paid the same wage to drive an air-conditioned, heated truck as they are to work in the elements at the feedlot. “That makes it hard,” Sand said. “Where’s the competitive advantage?”

Even with competitive wages, manual labor in the heat of summer and the cold of winter makes farmwork a tough sell. Blake Kerns grows sweet corn, green beans, and berries at Kerns Homegrown in northwest Iowa. He said high school and college students on summer break are the most logical seasonal labor pool for his operation. 

“I’ll pay really good workers a lot more than they can make at their local supermarket, but it’s still difficult to find them,” Kerns said. “They need to be willing to work long hours, and they need to be willing to work. Everyone likes time off in the summer, and that’s when we absolutely cannot take time off.”

Before the Search

Hiring an employee is a big step, and there are lots of factors to consider. Consult your team — including tax adviser, accountant, attorney, and insurance agent — to make sure you’re doing everything by the book, especially if hiring for the first time.

Take an inventory of your needs, and write a job description that includes physical requirements and hours. “Good job descriptions aid in recruitment, interviewing, selection, and hiring of better employees,” said Melissa O’Rourke, a retired Iowa State University Extension specialist. “Once those employees are on your farm, employee training and development are enhanced because you know what needs to be done.” 

Think about your ideal employee, and the skills or attributes they would possess, O’Rourke advised. Would they need a CDL? Would customer service skills be required? How much experience would you like them to have?

While certain jobs on the farm require training or experience in specific fields, that’s not always the case. For those roles, said Lilli Kreider, dairy herd manager at Kreider Farms in eastern Pennsylvania: “We really are open to anyone that’s willing to work. If you never had experience on a farm but you’re willing to learn, then you’re welcome on board.”

Finding Candidates

Farmers can’t just put a sign in the window and hope someone walks in. Online job search platforms focusing on ag careers can connect farm owners with candidates ranging from farmhands to freelance web designers. Share job openings with local Extension agents, FFA and 4-H leaders, as well as community college and university ag departments. Post on social media, including town groups. O’Rourke said not to overlook low-tech options such as posting flyers on bulletin boards.

Kreider said getting recommendations from current employees is a good place to start. “A lot of our long-term employees have family members who see they enjoy where they work, and they come on board when we need them to,” she said.

When farmers can’t find local employees, some turn to seasonal foreign workers under the ever-changing H-2A visa program. This can be very expensive, however, as employers must supply workers with housing, transportation, and food, and the minimum wage for H-2A workers can be much higher than for domestic workers. (See page 56 of the September issue of Successful Farming for more about the H-2A program.)

Make the Most of Interviews

Once you’re ready to narrow the field of applicants, invite them to the farm for an interview. The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers these tips:

• Go over the written job description.
• Ask each potential employee the same questions. Note their answers. (Remember, there are some questions you can’t legally ask. Have your team help write questions or at least review questions you’ve written.)
• Ask about previous positions and how the applicant overcame challenges.
• Follow the 80/20 rule, with the candidate doing 80% of the talking. Ask open-ended questions.
• Leave time for candidates to ask questions.
• Provide next steps and share your hiring timeline. Follow up to let them know if they didn’t get the job.

O’Rourke advised employers to check applicants’ references before making a decision. She said, “It is reasonable to ask the simple question: Would you hire this person?”

You’re Hired!

Once an employee is hired, Sand said proper onboarding can drastically improve performance and retention rates. (See this month’s Bottom Line column on page 56 for specific recommendations.)

Ongoing communication is also key to the success of a new hire. “If the first time they’re hearing from you on what they did wrong is the annual review, that’s not great,” Sand said. Likewise, let them know when they’re doing a good job. 

Mark Crave, general manager of Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, in southeast Wisconsin, concurs. “We try to do a good job orienting people,” he said. “Finding people is one thing. Once you have a good person, you really have to work at keeping them.” Efforts at Crave Brothers include creating an employee handbook, ensuring communication with non-English speaking workers, and hiring a human resources specialist.

Kreider said little perks also help with retention. Kreider Farms employees are treated to free milk and eggs, regular cookouts, and other gifts throughout the year. “We want them to know they’re appreciated,” she said. “We try to make it a great culture and environment to work in, so they’ll want to stay with us for many years and help our company grow.”

Todd Hanten grows corn, soybeans, and spring wheat and has a cattle feedlot in eastern South Dakota. In addition to perks, such as lunch made by his wife each day, he said trust, respect, and genuinely caring for employees has allowed him to retain some for more than 30 years. 

“When they’re driving around looking at fields, they say, ‘ours.’ When they talk about a tractor or the cattle or something, it’s ‘Look what we did’ or ‘This is ours,’ or, ‘We should do that,’” he said. “They’re like family.” 

Crave said he encourages farm employers to avoid taking workers for granted and to remember they have a choice. “It is inspiring when I see people come pulling down the road in the wee hours of the morning to punch in,” he said. “They’re coming here. All the places in the world they could go to, and they’re coming here to work.”