Authority. Respect. Admiration. Street cred. Call it what you want, but when it comes to leadership in the pork industry, there is nothing like having been there and done that. It’s one of the great stories about working in animal agriculture.
“It doesn’t matter where you come from, your socioeconomic background or your education level,” says Jason Hall, senior director of grow finish at Seaboard Foods. “You can overcome all of those things in the pork industry by showing up, working hard and being a good steward of animals and the environment.”
That’s Ariel Gonzalez.
Watch: AgDay Barn Hero Ariel Gonzalez
Over two decades ago, Gonzalez set out to find a summer job before heading off to college to become a history teacher. It didn’t take long for him to land a job with Seaboard in an entry-level position caring for pigs.
“My plan was to be there for the summer, but the summer flew by. I enjoyed it, and the paychecks were rolling in,” Gonzalez says. “So, I stayed.”
Now, 21 years later, Gonzalez serves as production manager for Seaboard Foods’ Region 6 that covers eight multisites, 412 barns and about 412,000 pigs a year. He says he can’t imagine another path that would bring him the joy and satisfaction he feels every day.
“Ariel goes out every day and provides good care to our animals, good leadership to our employees, takes care of the environment — all in an effort to provide high-quality protein to a lot of people that would otherwise do without,” says Hall, his supervisor. “To me, that’s pretty heroic stuff.”
An Evolving Role
Although Gonzalez grew up around grain farming in Elkhart, Kan., he had no experience working with pigs. He admits it was kind of scary at first to be around that many animals at one time, but it didn’t take long before he felt at home in the barns.
Over the years, his knowledge base grew as he continued to gain experience after experience that helped him move up the ranks at Seaboard. In his current role as a production manager, he assesses the barns and helps set up game plans and processes to assist farm managers in their roles.
From reviewing mortality reports to training new managers, Gonzalez says each day is filled with challenges and opportunities to lead by example. One of the aspects he enjoys most is walking the barn with his team members because it allows him to share his experience with others in a tangible way.
“When I’m walking a barn with a new manager, I often find them focused on looking at the pigs, which is important, but I’m also looking for feed quality, water flow, ventilation and barn maintenance issues,” he points out. “Because of my experience, my view of the barn is much wider than it was back when I was in their shoes. Understanding this, walking the barn is not just about one thing.”
That’s one of the biggest changes he has noticed as he has advanced into new roles at Seaboard. As a level-hand employee, there was more physical work with the pigs: treating, receiving, pulling out pigs that weren’t competing in the general population, and everyday tasks that kept him busy. As the job levels evolved, his role became more strategic, requiring him to think faster and better.
It’s All About the Pig
Still, the guiding principle of what he does today hasn’t changed from his first day on the job: It’s all about the pig. He hopes to daily instill those values and practices into every employee he encounters. He takes the role of mentorship seriously.
“The best caregivers believe what they do is important every day,” Gonzalez says. “When they walk in, they are looking at pigs and making sure they have feed and water. Most of our employees are whistling or singing or talking to the pigs themselves to get them up and moving so they can see how the pigs are doing.”
The best employees are doing what is necessary but doing so with urgency and tactfulness, Gonzalez adds. Helping employees understand urgency, especially when it comes to pig health and animal welfare, isn’t always easy.
“My biggest task is to get all the managers on the same page,” he says. “We start with high-priority items and work our way back. First comes first. That can be tough to get managers
established in their role to look at things in priority order. Not everyone learns the same way. Some people struggle a bit to understand it, so it requires more patience and training.”
His goal is to instill pride in his employees, pride that their job matters and pride in the product they produce.
“I have 100% confidence in the meat we produce because we produce it at a high quality. The employees we train take on that confidence,” Gonzalez says. “I hope they can go look at pork in the grocery store and be proud to say they helped put that there.”
The Bilingual Benefit
It’s his ability to communicate while passing on a passion for pork production that makes Gonzalez so valuable at Seaboard.
“With his ability to communicate in English and Spanish, he is able to explain why we do things much more in depth than I was ever able to do,” Hall says. “The employees understand why we do the things we are doing because he can communicate so well with them. Coming from an entry-level position and working his way through the system, he has a tremendous amount of street cred with our employees. They are more honest with him about what they do and don’t understand, what they need from a resource standpoint, and what they want to know more about.”
It’s that quality feedback he receives that allows him to better lead his teams and communicate needs with upper management.
“It’s a big advantage to be bilingual,” Gonzalez says. “When you think about where the industry was 21 years ago when I started, there were very few bilingual employees. People were either strictly Spanish-speaking or strictly English-speaking. I had the ability to come in and communicate on both sides with management and entry-level employees.”
There’s nothing like having been there and done that, Hall adds. Employees like Gonzalez as a person, but more importantly, they respect him.
“People have seen Ariel demonstrate all these things we are talking about from a leadership standpoint each and every day,” Hall says. “We have a lot of different farms, but they aren’t so far apart that people don’t know each other. Ariel is familiar to them, and they respect the blood, sweat and tears it has taken him to get to the position he is now.”
In short, he’s inspiring. Gonzalez is a daily reminder that with hard work and perseverance, you can achieve big goals in life.
“I think it’s important as a supervisor that you never find yourself in a position to ask people to do things you haven’t done. Every time Ariel asks an employee to come in early or stay late, or if the weather is bad, or if we are a little shorthanded, whatever the constraint might be, they know he’s been there,” Hall says.
A Hero in and Out of the Barn
A boots-on-the-ground operator, Gonzalez spends a lot of time with his team in the barn.
“It’s hard to be a barn hero if you aren’t in the barn,” Hall says. “Ariel is in the barn a lot and follows up with every employee he comes across. He keeps them engaged and answers questions. Ariel’s a down-to-earth leadership guy, a front-line leader. I think people recognize this and rally around it.”
Consistency is key when it comes to training. Gonzalez says having regular face time with employees in the barn and holding people accountable is key to fostering a positive barn culture.
“You are going to be rewarded for things you do right, and there are consequences for the things that are done wrong,” Gonzalez says. “As long as everybody understands that and respects it, it creates a very positive work environment for all of us.”
As he looks to the future, Gonzalez says success looks like passing the experience he’s acquired over the past 21 years on to others. He’s looking for somebody who shares his pride and commitment to excellence to take over his job someday.
“I want to train my managers to succeed and move to bigger roles,” he says. “Five years down the road, I’d honestly like to say, ‘Hey, do you know who so-and-so worked for that’s the production manager now? He worked for me.’”
He is excited about the future because he believes the younger generation likes being around animals and doing everything possible for them to grow well. This is the type of person he wants in the barn.
“I think the younger generation would enjoy coming out here and working with pigs. If they could just try it, I think they’d find how enjoyable this work environment is,” Gonzalez says. “People ask me all the time if I like what I do. I quickly let them know I wouldn’t be doing this 21 years later if I didn’t enjoy it. I love the diversity of what I do, of who I work with and of the way people think around here. We’re all trying to achieve the same goal, and it’s rewarding to be a part of this environment.”
Hall says there’s no question Gonzalez is a barn hero — not only at Seaboard Foods but in the global pork industry as well.
“He’s a card-carrying good guy. That doesn’t take long to figure out,” Hall says. “He volunteers quickly and always smiles. Everybody in our small town knows him, and it’s not because he’s a ‘hey-look-at-me’ person. He doesn’t do good things for the accolades, he does it because he’s a good guy.”
