If finding good employees is a challenge for your farming enterprise, consider what one agribusiness recruiter says is a wave of the future: freelance farmers.
They’re independent contractors who travel around the country to help large-scale operators plant and harvest crops, according to Greg Duerksen, president of Kincannon & Reed, an agribusiness executive search firm based in Virginia.
Such individuals are highly trained to run equipment; they’re reliable, self-motivated and have sound judgment skills, notes Duerksen. He says he already knows of several Midwest farmers who have been able to capitalize on this type of short-term employee opportunity.
“It requires you to change the way you think about hiring farm employees,” adds Duerksen, who spoke during the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum at the 2013 Commodity Classic.
In the following video, Duerksen provides some additional ideas on how farmers might go about finding the next employee for their operation.
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