For many farmers, finding good labor is a constant challenge, so when you find good employees you want to keep them. But, while many farmers are good at managing their land and livestock, they may not know as much about what it takes to be a good manager of their human employees.
A series of courses this winter offered by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont hopes to help farmers become better managers.
Mimi Arnstein, a member of NOFA-Vermont's board of directors, and an agricultural business consultant, employs a mix of 4-5 people each season, including apprentices, full and part-time employees as well as volunteer groups at Wellspring Farm in Marshfield. "It's quite a mix, which means I have to be a top-level people manager in addition to managing crops and coping with the weather and doing marketing, and all the things a farmer needs to be good at in order to succeed."
Management is the number one indicator of farm success, Arnstein said, and so farmers should take the time to get the training they need.
The conditions farm workers encounter are quite different from the typical office setting, so farm managers need specialized skills. "The work is very intense and the employees are experiencing that as well. For instance, we're working in heat, in cold, we're working early in the morning until late at night often, so some of the challenges I've personally faced is making sure the crew stays motivated, through hard times," Arnstein said. "It's difficult when mosquitoes are biting you and there's a great big order that's due and everyone's rushing around. How, day after day do we stay motivated to do the work and work well with a team?"
Another challenging is recruiting and hiring people who are committed to the work. It's not enough, she said, to simply shake someone's hand and hire them. Farmers need to check references, conduct interviews and ask for resumes, just like any other employer. One tip she's learned from other farmers is to ask a prospective employee to go for a walk.
"See how fast they walk. If they're trailing you, that's a good indicator of the pace that they prefer. And of course, on a farm we need folks that are working very efficiently and very focused," she explained.
The courses will cover topics like conflict management, motivating employees, and legal issues like employment law. Full details can be found at NOFA-Vermont's web-site.
