By Aidan Connolly
“It is taking 20% longer to get new leaders in place, with 30% higher compensation, including extra considerations such as work location, flexibility, bonuses and equity and on top of that companies have to decide 50% faster since top talent have as many as 3 offers,” said David Turner of Kincannon & Reed (the leading search firm dedicated to Food & Agribusiness) on the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers In Action (USFRA) podcast ‘Farm Food Facts.’
This year’s World Pork Expo demonstrated more than ever that as the pork industry continues to consolidate in the U.S. and globally, and farm size continues to increase, the total numbers working in swine production have never been smaller. Hog production is comparatively hard physical work and when contrasted with more regular office or industry jobs, many potential farm workers are thinking again. The swine industry has experienced its own ‘great resignation.’
A special issue on Human Capital, published by IFAMA illustrated that agriculture ‘is assumed to be traditional and resistant to evolution,’ yet today’s agribusiness ‘is sophisticated, dynamic and change is being driven by rapid advances in technology, communications and globalization.’
So how can we find, train, motivate and keep the best workers to manage our pigs?
1) The War for Talent is real with an estimated shortage of nearly 60,000 college graduates with expertise in food, agriculture, renewable resources or the environment, according to the USDA. Can we convince these graduates that the swine industry is for them? Perhaps start by pointing out that it is no longer like the farm their grandparents worked on and reminding them that producing food is always a noble career.
2) In the past many saw the food business and farming as a vocation, but workers don’t always see it that way. Hog producers must compete with flexible working conditions, vacations, technology and healthcare offered by other industries. One agri-observer noted ‘money is not a decision-making factor, rather it is a knockout factor’. If the package isn’t right from the beginning, the best candidates will never even start to consider a position on your farm.
3) Development of your current employees is the best way to find talent. Language skills, management, computers and specific technologies are vital skills worth acquiring. In my experience, farms do too little of it and complain that training is ‘too expensive, time-consuming and what happens at the end of training if they decide to leave?’ I prefer the question, ‘Is it better to train your people and risk having them leave, or not train them and risk having them stay?’ The answer is obvious.
4) Evidence shows diverse teams (cultural, ethnic and sex) make better decisions in disruptive times. Pork production has traditionally been male and culturally homogenous in almost all countries, but this has been changing rapidly. Today’s swine farm often feels like the United Nations when you ask where employees were born, and it is no longer guaranteed that the first language on the farm will be English. Several farms I have visited insist that managers learn Spanish, but translation apps on smartphones offer a technological alternative.
5) Hog farm employees and workers tend to be older, which only increases the challenges in a world where aging workforces mean that two workers will retire as one new worker enters the marketplace. How can swine producers ensure a better transition to the next generation? Farms can retain workers by creating positions for workers who don’t want to work full-time, and could continue to contribute post retirement or for other reasons.
6) As pig farming becomes more technical and automated, managers are making complex financial decisions on what technologies to invest in. Robots, sensors, cameras with artificial intelligence, extended reality training devices, and even genetic decisions, require different levels of technical knowledge. Farm managers today don’t have the training or knowledge of these technologies so the better choice may be to find non-traditional employees (including candidates who haven’t grown up on a farm) who have the tech skills and teach them about farming.
Technological groups that I met at the World Pork Expo addressing the real people problems and with commercial traction include Everypig.com, software which helps workers and veterinarians manage the pig health and records very effectively through photos, data. Distynct has developed a platform to view swine data from multiple sources on your smart phone, device in real time. Ever.Ag is a comprehensive system to manage risk in grains and pork, and links to the CME and now Joe Kerns’ team at Partners for Production Agriculture are part of the group.
Farming’s ‘people problem’ starts with ‘you’ – the owners, the farm managers. You must be open-minded, technological-savvy and embrace a more diverse range of candidates. That type of leadership is the only way to bring the pork industry forward to the next level.
Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed in this column are the opinions of Aidan Connolly and do not represent the opinions of Farm Journal’s PORK.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
The Long-Run Impact of the Great Resignation
The Great Resignation: Don’t Let it Distract You from What Matters Most
