EDMONTON — Attracting farm help is one problem, but keeping and managing workers can also be a challenge, farmers learned during a panel discussion at FarmTech.
Panelist Kevin Serfas said his 56,000 acre farm and 6,000 head feedlot operation can no longer operate with just family members.
However, it has taken time to allow strangers, some without much experience, to help out, especially during the busy spring and harvest seasons.
“Everyone knows how expensive farm machinery is. It’s a huge thought process to change and allow someone to run expensive machinery,” said Serfas, who farms near Turin, Alta.
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“It takes discipline not to lose your mind when everything doesn’t go as planned.”
He said it takes creativity to keep and recruit good staff.
Serfas also said workers for nearby companies who grew up on a farm can often come at short notice to help out.
Workers will be more inclined to stay if the work is interesting and they get the opportunity to try a variety of farm work, including driving the swather or combine.
“You’ve got to make your farm a fun place to work.”
Serfas said farmers shouldn’t be afraid to help workers upgrade their skills because it will also benefit the farm.
Making the farm fun is as important as paying a good salary, he added. On his farm, the entire crew spends the day before harvest at the lake.
“It really isn’t about money. If it was, no one would be working for us,” he said.
“Make your farm somewhere people want to come.”
The farm also supplies a 5,000 sq. foot bunkhouse with six rooms, 16 beds and a laundry facility.
“You have to make them reasonably comfortable.”
Workers Compensation Board coverage and a benefit package are added benefits.
Some of the full-time staff were recently switched from an hourly wage to a salary to smooth out the financial ups and downs and allow staff to take holidays stress free.
“They really do appreciate it. It gives them more sense of security financially.”
Rod Bradshaw of Beck Farms near Innisfail, Alta., said his enthusiasm has sometimes raced ahead of his ability to find and keep good help, especially in the gardens.
The family responded to low barley prices in the 1980s by growing carrots on some of their land. They built a carrot processing plant the following year and started looking for workers.
Students were hired to wash, grade and pack carrots, but that solution lasted only until the children went back to school at the end of August.
“We put ads in the paper, and ended up getting a lot of housewives looking for part-time jobs.”
Despite the regular hours, with scheduled lunch and coffee breaks, the drive from town appeared to be a barrier too difficult to overcome for some workers.
Carrots were the first the lesson but weren’t the last.
Innisfail Growers, a group of five family farms, later had the opportunity to grow 60,000 cabbages that would need to be hoed by hand.
“We learned soon we couldn’t do outdoor crops,” said Bradshaw, who is part of the group that supplies fresh produce to 20 farmers markets and has 10 year-round positions and 54 part time workers.
“We could hire them for inside a building, but not in the field.”
Bradshaw said he now hires seasonal workers from Mexico, who are willing to spend the summer in the fields hoeing weeds and doing work that Canadians don’t like.
“They show up every day. They are skilled. They are educated in what we need,” he said.
“We provide housing, treat them very well and offer a standard rate of pay. We pay them more because we know their value.”
Bradshaw said they have also developed training and policy manuals so that every worker knows what is expected.
Margot Ross Graham, owner of Sandbar Coaching and Communication, said attracting and keeping farm workers means keeping them engaged because engaged workers have a connection to the farm.
“If you can create an experience, you will keep your people. Capture the heart and soul of your employee so they want to come back and work for you,” she said.
Engaged employees also recruit their friends to come work in a fun and creative environment.
Ross Graham said farmers may not be able to compete with other industries on money, but they can provide flexible hours, bonuses, a condensed work week and send employees to workshops.
Farmers need to use that flexibility as part of the recruitment tool, she said. Wooing a worker is no different than dating.
“Date this person. Tell them how great things will be,” she said.
