Management

Overcome the No. 1 Challenge in Passing Down Your Family Farm

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 21:16:05 GMT

Between now and 2048, about $124 trillion is expected to exchange hands from older to younger generations in the U.S., according to Cerulli Associates, a Boston-based market research firm.

For perspective, that dollar amount is approximately five times the size of the 2023 U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which totaled $27.72 trillion.

How will farmers fit into what many people are calling the “Great Wealth Exchange” over the next two decades? Much of it is specific to land, according to the American Farmland Trust (AFT). It predicts 300 million acres of U.S. agricultural land will change hands in the next 20 years.

Based on $5,000 an acre for farm ground, Paul Neiffer, the Farm CPA, estimates that would be a transfer of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion in land from older farmers to younger generations.

“If you throw in rangeland, that’s another trillion, so $3 to $4 trillion at most is where I think we’re at,” Neiffer says.

The Reason Succession Often Fails

A common issue is that while 69% of farmers plan to transfer their operation to a younger family member, only 23% have a plan , according to AgAmerica Lending LLC.

But the No. 1 issue that trips up people in the succession planning process is most people – farmers included – focus more on the mechanics involved in transferring assets than on keeping their family relationships intact.

That’s according to Amy Castoro, CEO and president of The Williams Group, a family coaching and consulting organization. Her firm does relationship planning to help family members make sure they’re still speaking to each other after the wealth transfers.

Many times, she says, the friction in the transfer of wealth has little to do with money and material goods and a whole lot more to do with whether the family members involved felt loved.

A Formula For Success

The Williams Group did a 20-year field study and from that developed a formula for how people need to focus their time and energy in the succession process.

The company recommends spending:
60% of your time on building family trust and developing good communication practices;

25% preparing your heirs to take over the operation, laying the business and fiscal groundwork for the farm to continue under their leadership;

10% of your time getting on the same page about your family’s values and having a family mission;

5% of your time on the estate planning mechanics, the nuts and bolts of how the assets will transfer.

In addition, The Williams Group advises that you work with your heirs to:

Strike a balance between control and collaboration.
Embrace the next generation’s perspectives.
Bolster intergenerational solidarity.
Embed high-trust behaviors.
Co-design standards for readiness.

Start The Plan Sooner, Not Later

If you want to see your farm succeed with the next generation of family members, make sure you have the right structure in place – and set it up sooner than later. Don’t put it off, Neiffer advises.

Once you have a plan in place, you have a tool you can modify to fit what your family and farm need over time.

“Having a plan in place can help alleviate stress, even if things change down the road,” Neiffer says. “Keep in mind that farming is a dynamic business and your plan needs to be, too.”

Your next read: Big Questions Remain For Next Gen Farmers

Square Roots pauses commercial production, pivots to ‘farming as a service’ model

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 14:10:12 GMT

Hydroponic grower Square Roots is pivoting in how it does business.

A company spokesperson recently confirmed with The Packer that the controlled environment agriculture company is pausing commercial production at several of its farms and moving to a “farming as a service” business model. What this major shift means for the company is still unclear.

“Square Roots has recently moved to a ‘farming as a service’ business model. We’re now operating our controlled-climate farms exclusively for our strategic partners — whether that’s to immediately secure the supply of high-quality crops or to explore novel ways of profitably growing high calorie food indoors,” Square Roots said in a statement to The Packer.

“As we’ve made this move, we have had to pause commercial production in some of our facilities while we reconfigure them to be more suitable for servicing customers under the farming as a service model, and we look forward to bringing these facilities back online in the future,” the statement continued. “Others are already servicing customers under ‘farming as a service’ contracts.”

Halting growth and pausing production

The CEA startup was co-founded in 2016 by entrepreneur Tobias Peggs and Elon Musk’s brother, Kimbal Musk, and has since opened four container farms across the U.S. — in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Kentucky.

Known for its modular, stackable farm structures built from upcycled storage containers, the company has grown considerably in its seven years of business. In recent months, Square Roots even secured partnerships with UNFI and Gordon Food Service. Structuring its business around container farms co-located at the site of major food distribution locations across the country, the company opened its newest facility in Shepherdsville, Ky., this year.

WDRB in Kentucky reported that sources said that most of the Square Roots staff has been laid off and that moving forward under the new business model, Square Roots doesn’t plan on retaining any employees. Three of the company’s four farms are slated to close — including the Wisconsin, Ohio and Kentucky-based facilities — with a remaining Michigan farm anticipated to stay open, according to WDRB.

More Square Roots coverage

Tomorrow's Top Producer Winner Joanna Carraway

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 20:43:50 GMT

A young Kentucky farmer thrives amidst adversity

Joanna Carraway is goal-oriented. Not a bucket-list, dreams-of-the-day type of goal setter; Carraway sets goals she will accomplish.

Carraway has lifetime goals, yearly goals and short-term goals. “Joanna will even set daily goals,” says her husband, Craig. “It drives me crazy.”

Carraway was combining a corn field on their western Kentucky farm not long ago. They moved fields late enough they should have parked the equipment and went home. “I was determined to finish it,” she says. Her father-in-law, Steve, calls her at 10:30 p.m. and says, “So, I guess you’re going to finish this field?” She says: “Yep, you all go home.”

A few hours later, that field was checked off her list, and she went home. Goal accomplished. “That is just the way my brain is wired,” says the 35-year-old farmer. Carraway’s driven personality and analytical nature is what has helped her family’s Murray, Ky., crop operation thrive during adverse conditions.

Every corner of farm country has its own unique challenges. For the Carraways, the biggest challenge has been no rain. In 2006, the couple bought into his family’s farm, which includes a partnership with Craig’s parents, Steve and Freda.

They had a banner year growing white and yellow corn, soybeans, winter wheat and tobacco. It was so encouraging that Carraway left her job at a software development company to join the farm full-time. Craig had left his ag retail sales job in 2003.

In 2007, it quit raining, and has hardly rained since. Corn yields on Carraway Family Farms have come in under 100 bu. per acre five of the last seven years due to drought. In 2012, corn only made 31 bu. per acre.

Carraway says nothing teaches you to manage money better than not having any. In 2007 they were facing a trying financial situation. Carraway knew it was time to nitpick their financials and business plans and make some management changes.

(Farm Journal)

For the past decade nearly the exact same group of men has been working for the Carraways.

Craig’s family had always bought crop insurance, but hadn’t had a crop insurance claim for years, Carraway says. “Then we came back to the farm and it quit raining.”

Necessary Changes. Due to consecutive years of low yields, Carraway knew she had to ramp up her understanding of crop insurance. “It took me a week, but I studied everything I could find about crop insurance,” she says. “I set up a spreadsheet that I could plug in the bushels we would potentially make, with a price, so I knew exactly what the crop insurance would pay.”

Jody Jones, a River Valley Ag Credit loan officer, handles the Carraway’s crop insurance. “I had seen Joanna work hard in the field, but little did I know how smart she was when it came to the business side of agriculture,” he notes. Jones says Joanna will often tell the crop insurance adjusters and him the crop insurance claim amount before it is even worked.

Her knowledge of crop insurance has proved to be financially valuable. Twice, their crop insurance checks were significantly less than what she had determined. By having her spreadsheet to show as proof, they were able to have the claims corrected.

Having a good team of advisers and partners, such as Jones, has been vital to the Carraways operation.

After a tough 2007, they decided to add more tobacco acres because it was the highest value crop on their farm. To do so, they needed to set up irrigation and build additional tobacco barns, which had a hefty price tag.

“The bank we were with at the time told us we couldn’t add any more debt,” Carraway says. “I showed them on paper how the expansion was going to add a huge amount to our farm income and be the safety net we needed, but they still said no. So I went bank shopping.”

With a little extra effort they were able to find a bank willing to take a chance. “We were really fortunate to find Heritage Bank,” Carraway says. “They believed we had a good plan and were a good idea; while on paper, we did not look like a good idea.”

Jimmy Hicks, Heritage Bank market president, has worked with the Carraways since 2008. “During this time, they have demonstrated excellent character and communication, and maintained a spotless credit rating,” Hicks says, noting that their substantial financial growth is a tribute to their production and financial management skills.

Carraway is quick to credit Hicks and the bank. “He allows us the flexibility to run our business and looks at the big picture,” she says. “Plus, he doesn’t point out our mistakes.”

Carraway’s main responsibilities on the farm include record keeping, setting financial goals and analyzing new purchases or expansions.

Her goal is to “recycle” money. “When we spend money, I always want it to stay in the same balance sheet,” Carraway says. “I don’t want to spend money that won’t be positively reflected on the balance sheet.”

A recent example is the purchase of a larger spray coupe. “Joanna did the math and determined it was a better investment to buy a bigger sprayer instead of hiring guys from the local coop to help spray,” Craig says. “That has been a great investment.”

Machinery costs are an area the Carraways focus on. “We can’t afford to have broken-down machinery for very long,” Carraway says, explaining that they buy extended warranties, typically three years, on key equipment. Even on new machinery, a small problem can quickly surpass the cost of the warranty. “We know for the three years we’re going to have this machine what it will cost us,” she says. “There are no surprises, which means we can run at full efficiency.”

Relationship Management. For more than a decade, 12 men from Mexico traveled north to spend six months on the Carraway Family Farm. The Carraways pay for H-2A visas, which allow temporary agricultural workers to seek employment in the U.S. Expenses for traveling to and from Kentucky, as well as housing, transportation and wages while in Kentucky, are paid by the Carraways.

Their main responsibilities are tobacco related, Craig says, and the program is expensive, but they wouldn’t be able to produce tobacco without them. “If you’re going to raise tobacco of any magnitude, you depend on migrant workers.”

What’s impressive is for the past decade nearly the exact same group of men has been working for the Carraways. “They are like family to us,” Carraway says. Through Facebook, she has connected with her employees’ families and posts updates and photos of what’s going on around the farm.

Carraway understands the sacrifice their employees make. “They are here trying to make a better life for their kids,” she says. “My goal is to set something up, like a retirement plan, for them. Tobacco is such hard work and they can’t do it forever. They have been so good to us, that I want to do something long-term for them. Ultimately, we need to grow and expand, but we want them to have something for later.”

The Carraways also maintain landlord relationships. They rent around 2,450 acres and have 50 landlords. Craig says these relationships have always been important. His grandfather started a tradition of providing sweet corn to landlords, then his father added sausage.

Now, Carraway has taken it a step further. Each year, she mails a card that features a snapshot of the farm. They also send notepads, hats and pens with the farm logo to help solidify their relationship.

These acts of kindness can lead to opportunities. Their goal is to fine-tune their finances so if a landlord wants to sell them his or her farm, they will be in a position to buy.

At the Heart. Originally a Missouri farm girl, Carraway grew up the youngest of five girls on a row-crop farm. Her father never hired employees, so his daughters became expert truck and tractor drivers at an early age. By age 10, Carraway was working 14-hour days. “My dad never asked if we could do something, he just told us to do it,” she says.

Carraway left the farm for Murray State University and majored in business administration. After six months, she missed agriculture; it was in her blood. She switched her major to agronomy and started an internship at a local ag retail store, where she met Craig.

As the daughter-in-law in a multi-generational operation, she admits it can be challenging, but with her farm family background Carraway understands the emotional connection families have with the land and their property.

Craig’s family wants the farm to succeed and stay intact, she says, and they try to balance that with her own goals and dreams for the farm. “It isn’t like I just married a farmer,” Carraway says. “This was my dream before I met him. We just happened to have the same dream.”

A Profile of Carraway Family Farms

(Farm Journal)

Joanna and Craig Carraway focus on relationships with their advisers, landlords and workers.

Long Line of Farming: Carraway Family Farms began in 1953, when Noby Carraway bought land near Murray, Ky. He and his wife, Euva, farmed until their son, Steve and his wife, Freda, joined the operation in 1971. After Noby passed away, and in 2006 Joanna and Craig began a five-year process of purchasing Euva’s share. Joanna and Craig have two children, Preston, 7, and Hannah, 2.

Crop Mix: The Carraways own 42 acres and rent 2,450. Around 80 acres are planted in tobacco and the remaining acres are used to produce white corn, yellow corn, soybeans and double-crop winter wheat.

Employee Management: Carraway Family Farms employs 12 migrant workers each year, whose main duty is to help with tobacco production. Joanna has connected with the workers’ families through social media, which helps them stay in touch during their six months apart.

Community Focused: Joanna says she never realized she would need to be an advocate for agriculture, but as fewer people have a direct connection to farming, she recognizes the need. In 2012, Carraway Family Farms donated funds for the local elementary school to build an outdoor classroom and garden. “It’s important for children to learn how food is grown,” she says. “It’s just one little garden at one little school, but it could make a difference.”

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Register now for the 2016 Tomorrow’s Top Producer business conference happening June 16-17 in Nashville!

Assembling a Manure Spill Response Kit

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:30:09 GMT

By: Erin Cortus, Assistant Professor & Environmental Quality Engineer, SDSU Extension

Manure spills can occur during the storage, transportation and application of manure. Advanced planning can minimize the impacts of a manure-related emergency. Part of this preparation includes assembling a manure spill response kit to have ready and accessible on the farm when needed, especially while pumping and applying manure.

The kit should include:

A copy of the farm’s emergency response plan, if it has one, including emergency numbers and a site map;
Hay or straw bales that could be used to block a culvert or build a berm or diversion;
T-posts to support plywood or bale stacks;
14-inch diameter PVC pipe in both 3-foot and 2-foot sections to be used to cover tile inlets;
Several 6-mil plastic sheets of approximately 12-foot x 25-foot lengths that could be applied to tile inlets or other sensitive areas with duct tape;
At least one sheet of 4-foot x 4-foot plywood that could be used to block culverts. Round the plywood on one end to fit the curve of the ditch;
Pliers, vice grips, fencing pliers, channel lock pliers, hammers, utility knife, hand saw, hatchet, post driver;
1 roll duct tape;
Baling wire; and
Sand shovels.

At the minimum, a mini-kit can be kept in the truck or tractor. The mini-kit should contain a sand shovel, duct tape, utility knife and 6-mil plastic sheets.

The steps for responding to a manure spill are outlined in the article Dealing with a Manure Spill .

Video Monitoring Adds Another Layer of Security for Animal Welfare

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:30:48 GMT

New technology is an important tool in food safety, and now it’s being used to measure animal well-being. Tyson Foods says it will be using video surveillance to help improve efforts to monitor bird welfare . The company currently employs a team of animal well-being specialists across all its beef, pork, and poultry operations as part of its commitment to sustainable food production.

In August 2016, Tyson fired 10 workers after an animal rights group released a secretly recorded video showing workers swinging chickens around by their legs and wings. A year later, the company terminated a farmer’s contract after another group videoed workers breaking birds’ necks by standing on their heads. Rather than allowing similar instances to occur in the future, Tyson will be recording its operations itself, keeping an eye on the daily proceedings of its processing plants and contract farms.

In a similar vein this past year, Hormel Foods hired third party auditors to review its hog farms after animal rights videos showed overcrowded conditions and a worker slamming a pig to the floor. As video monitoring is implemented in the poultry industry, it could spread to other animal production systems to combat the ever-growing amount of footage being circulated by animal rights groups.

How the Process Will Work

Tyson has installed third-party remote video auditing (RVA) systems to monitor live bird handling in 33 of its poultry plants. These RVA systems have been equipped using Arrowsight, a company that provides RVA technology and data analytics services for monitoring manufacturing settings, including livestock production facilities. Trained auditors from Arrowsight analyze footage from Tyson’s chicken plants, providing feedback for improving management on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Similar RVA systems will be used for evaluating the on-farm catching of birds prior to transporting them to processing facilities.

In addition to video monitoring, Tyson also intends to launch controlled atmosphere stunning methods in two of its poultry processing plants, and will be researching changes to chicken house lighting and enrichment that could further improve bird welfare.

Tyson is not the first to test out RVA auditing, as Cargill pioneered the program in its beef-harvest facilities back in 2008. But as more companies embrace new technology, production standards for farmers and ranchers could start to follow this trend as well.

China to Treat More Animal Waste to Help Clear Rural Pollution

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:30:48 GMT

China plans to treat more waste from livestock breeding to improve its rural environment and reduce agriculture pollution in the world’s top pork producer.

Pollution from the country’s livestock breeding is becoming an “outstanding issue” after years of steady development of the sector to ensure meat, eggs and dairy supply, according to a summary of remarks by Vice Premier Wang Yang at a conference on Tuesday. China will increase treatment of animal wastes, encourage more use of bio-gas in the countryside and expand large-size scale farms which are able to treat the waste, he said.

China is tackling soil pollution as part of its nationwide agriculture reforms, with its top legislative body considering tougher penalties for those who pollute water and prohibiting the building of homes or schools in areas with contaminated soil. The country has dealt with problems including cases where crops have been grown in areas contaminated with cadmium. China has more than half of the world’s pigs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Farmers favor using chemical fertilizers, which save time and costs, over organic fertilizer, Yu Kangzhen, vice agriculture minister, told a press conference on June 14. That’s seen about 40 percent of China’s 3.8 billion tons of annual animal waste left untreated and unutilized, he said. China is aiming to increase the use of animal waste as fertilizer for fruit, tea and vegetables by as much as 50 percent by 2020.

Some local governments are closing down more pig farms or banning breeding due to pollution concerns, which may threaten supply, said Yu. China’s central government will offer financial support to 500 counties and 200,000 large farms for waste treatment facilities, he said.

Iowa State Farming Lab Brings Real World Skills to Students

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 20:42:47 GMT

Iowa State University hosts more than 30,000 students from across the globe each year. Many of those students choose to make the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences their home during the four-year stay. For some of these students, that means spending a semester or two on the farm.

(Farm Journal)

Each semester, about 60 students farm roughly 600 acres, helping to do the work and make the decisions that go into keeping this Iowa farming business afloat.

It’s a real-life, real-world experience that comes complete with the option to try new things and work with of the country’s biggest companies.

Iowa State’s Assistant Teaching Professor Skyler Rinker says AG 450 students have many opportunities to interact with large agricultural companies.

“Relationships are key with industry partners to help improve your operation. To continue learning and grow as an operation, to me, is a very critical component when we’re talking about production agriculture,” says Rinker.

(Farm Journal)

Companies like Pivot Bio offer products and plots for students to test those new ideas.

“In terms of fertilizer and our practices, it’s about not always doing things just because they’ve been done that way for 40 years and looking to be more sustainable and adapt new and modern technologies as they become available,” says Rinker. “I think looking at fertilizer and nitrogen alternatives to synthetics was something that fit very well in looking toward the future.”

Rinker says the farm is self-funded and like a real Iowa farm, is subject to the ups and downs of the ag economy.

From the Editor

As a recent graduate of Iowa State University (Agricultural Studies, May 2020), I can attest to the benefits the AG 450 Farm brings to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

At the beginning of the semester, students are assigned to a committee – crops, machinery, public relations, buildings and grounds, customers and swine, or finance and marketing—and they work to maintain their subject area each week in lab.

(Farm Journal)

Once a week during lab, the class is split into teams. Each team includes one person from each committee. Teams are advised to work together to complete weekly teachings.

During the course of my semester in AG 450, my team and I measured grain bins, hauled out finished pigs, completed an in-person farm safety course, and selected spring 2021 corn and soybean hybrids suitable to our soil profiles as well as any crop insurance we saw fit.

(Farm Journal)

COVID-19 did put an end to our in-class lab sessions. However, had we completed our spring semester in person, my team would have many more experiences under our belt. A few of those being spring plant and spray, overseeing plans for a bike path to run through our farm and fields, and laying the groundwork for the possibility of a new, on-farm classroom.

Had the AG 450 Farm course not been required for my major, I’m certain I would not have been given the opportunity to harness these skills, nor would others who make their way through the College of Agriculture.

Jenna Hoffman

Content Creator, Agriculture & Food Policy and Innovation

Better Meetings in 8 Key Steps

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 20:03:06 GMT

Meetings are an inevitable element of business, but they can be a boon or a bore, depending on how they are run.

Management consultant Stephanie Vozza with Fast Company shared advice for more productive meetings that are worth their time:

Avoid mornings – Many people, especially in agriculture, identify as morning people. Whenever possible, don’t rob them of their most productive time of the day by making them sit in a meeting. Vozza suggested considering alternatives like an afternoon stand-up, or doing simple status updates via text or e-mail instead of a meeting.
Trim the attendance list – Inviting people unnecessarily can make meetings last longer and waste individuals’ time. Sometimes it may be possible to conduct meetings in segments, excusing attendees after the agenda topic that pertains to them has concluded.
Help everyone be prepared – It’s your role as the leader to communicate the purpose of the meeting in advance. Distribute supporting information to attendees within a reasonable timeframe, so they come to the meeting prepared to discuss and strategize.
Cut distractions – Our amazing attachment to electronic devices can quickly be the downfall of a productive meeting. Attendees who are on their phone or laptops aren’t fully engaged in the topic at hand. Be friendly but firm in your expectations of full attention.
Hit the ground running – Boring, casual beginnings can encourage latecomers and annoy those who value punctuality. Always start on time, and front-load important information that attendees will not want to miss.
Keep the topics tight – Long, complex agendas can frustrate and demoralize your team before the meeting even starts. Shorter, more focused meetings – even if they have to happen more frequently -- can help parse complex topics and generate real progress.
Stay on time – Keep an eye on the clock and wrap up at the promised time, even if that requires scheduling a follow-up meeting to finish the business at hand. Or at least offer the courtesy of asking if everyone is comfortable with staying a bit longer to finish up.
Put a ribbon around it – Every meeting should end with clearly defined decisions and next steps, who will do them, and when. Failure to do so can damage morale and motivation, and create cynicism and a negative attitude toward meetings and work.

“When leaders and attendees take the time to hold effective sessions, they can become less dreaded and even something everyone looks forward to,” Vozza advised.

Succession Planning: Your Most Important Farm Task for 2023

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 18:42:58 GMT

The hardest decision you have to make once a year is crop insurance. It is complicated, and only a few people it as well as they should.

While that’s an annual tough task, the hardest decision you have to make once in your life is transition planning. I’m here to tell you there is nothing more vital you can do in 2023 than get your house in order for transition planning.

When to Start?

Believe it or not, the people we enjoy working with the most start their transition plan when they are 35 to 40 years old. Time, structure and peace of mind are huge factors for successful planning.

Those in the 55-to-62 range are another targeted timeframe if you’ve already missed that first window. Five to seven years of transition is ideal for turning over assets, tax implications and some managerial decisions. Some operators choose to have financial involvement for even longer if it makes sense for both parties.

If you are age 62 to70 and haven’t started transition planning, clear your schedule after reading this and get rolling. You owe it to yourself, your family and your successors to get your ducks in a row.

Plan Before Need

Don’t view succession planning as picking your retirement date. I want you to have a plan and be ready for when that day comes.

Whether you’re 35 or 65, things happen. We often humor the situation lightly by joking with people about “what would happen to your farm if you got hit by a beer truck on the way home today?” That proverbial beer truck prompts many questions:

Who knows what you know?
Who doesn’t know what you know?
Who needs to know what you know?
What exactly do they need to know?

Unfortunately, in our line of work, we see the good, the bad and the really, really ugly. There are situations, also, where we can’t help. Either the retiring farmer is too old to draft a plant or the problem is too complicated or the family just simply won’t work together.

Don’t let your farm and business get to that point. Get started, make a plan and put it into action. The most important thing you can do for your business in 2023 is get started on your transition plan.

Don’t know where to start? Shoot me an email at shay@agviewsolutions.com, and I’ll send you five documents: Budgeting for Retirement, Transition Checklist, Transition Timeline, Transition Questionnaire and a sample Family Meeting Agenda.

7 Essential Strategy Considerations

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:51:50 GMT

Mark Faust works with owners, CEOs and sales managers who want to grow their businesses.

He says strategy should be like a laser, which can become sharper, more intense, brighter and more effective. And he recommends business managers review their strategy on a quarterly basis.

“Routinely sharpening your strategy gives clarity to your vision to be intensified with greater detail,” Faust says. “What gives you competitive advantage, your points of divergence from the competitive alternatives, can be intensified as well.

How and where you invest your resources, your strategic focus, can be intensified by strategically abandoning weak markets, customers, products and practices and reallocating resources to areas with higher return.”

Faust says objectives must be set in seven key areas:
1. Marketing
2. Innovation
3. Culture
4. Resource requirements
5. Productivity
6. Community, industry and social responsibility
7. Profitability requirements

Semi-Annual Review of Role Focus

The frequency of the strategy recalibration is key, and it’s a must to involve your team.

“When recalibrating your business’s targets quarterly and setting new objectives, it should be done with your team,” he says. “The more this rhythm takes hold, the more your team will contribute innovations and improvements through new objectives.”

He suggests all managers should have one-on-one realignment meetings with each direct report semiannually.

“There are tools to help to illuminate constraints and opportunities for an organization’s management team as well as keep everyone focused on dedicating an appropriate amount of time and focus to the appropriate objectives, projects and priorities,” he says.

Accountability Tools
Faust says business leaders point to their boards, advisers and customers for input.

“We all have blind spots, and having growth advisers and some type of board sharpens your leadership, strategy and execution,” he says. “Quarterly in-depth interviews with customers are one of the most commonly missed steps involved in developing strategy. These interviews should be a requirement.”

Faust has seen how having a third-party interview a sample of customers every quarter brings innovation and new opportunities. He credits this idea to the founder of strategy, Peter Drucker, who said if you’re not listening to the customer regularly, then you’re not doing strategy.

Growth Is Relative
Not all businesses can experience exponential growth.

“But odds are you know right now what type of and how much potential growth your company could have if you execute accordingly,” Faust says. “The key is to use the best practices above and get all you can out of all you’ve got.”

He encourages farmers to see how executing strategy as a quarterly process within their teams will uncover more and more hidden opportunities that facilitate business growth.

Here more from Mark Faust at the upcoming Top Producer Summit. Click here to register.

Safety Policy for U.S. Farmers

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:30:59 GMT

Do you have a safety policy for your farm? The incentives for creating a safety policy and thinking proactively go beyond having a safe workplace, notes Dick Wittman, an Idaho farmer and farm consultant. For every dollar in insurance claims, an employer spends $4 to $5.

Wittman encourages farmers to develop a safety protocol and review safety rules with all employees once a month. Online, it is easy to find Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) books, state safety guidebooks and even information from your state’s Department of Transportation for trucking safety. For starters, visit OSHA’s farm safety website at www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/FarmFactS2.pdf .

It’s also important that the fi rst line supervisor on the farm communicate on near misses and close calls, Wittman says. “Is your farm a playground or a worksite?” he asks. “There needs to be zero tolerance on worksites for violations of safety rules.”

Tips for Hiring Truck Drivers

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:28:57 GMT

During harvest, time is a valuable commodity. If your grain-truck driver can’t keep up, it might be necessary to hire more drivers.

“One of our biggest challenges is finding reliable and qualified labor,” explains Brent Drey, a corn and soybean farmer in northwestern Iowa. “Being able to haul the grain away is probably the most important factor during harvest.”

In his rural community of Sac City, Drey uses multiple recruiting methods to find qualified labor. He starts by identifying drivers with a commercial driver’s license (CDL).

“The labor force is there to some extent, but you have to search for it,” he says. “Believe it or not, I posted something on Facebook, and that’s where I got the best response.” He also asks around the community.

Proceed With Caution. Once you’ve identified possible drivers, ensure candidates are reliable and safe drivers, even if you know them.

“Ultimately, the farmer is always responsible for what their drivers do,” says Fred Whitford, specialist with Purdue Cooperative Extension Service. “Make sure you run a drug and alcohol conviction check and call the last person they worked for to find out if they are responsible.”

Have specific, consistent and written hiring criteria. “The No. 1 thing we look for is a clean driving record,” Drey says. “We also want people with a Class A CDL with air-brake endorsements.”

Clearly identify qualities you’re seeking in job descriptions to cover liability. “As our farm grows in acres and employees, the insurance grows incrementally,” Drey says.

If an accident occurs and a driver is found negligent, your operation’s insurance might not cover the damages. To avoid that risk, each driver should be processed through your insurance agency, which can check backgrounds, increase your coverage as needed and ensure drivers are aware of safety guidelines.

“The biggest risk a farmer has outside of the weather and stock markets are truck and equipment accidents,” Whitford says. “Light cars and trucks are the ones who are going to suffer.”

Practical Guidelines. Simple steps can increase safety. Ensure drivers avoid roads during times of high traffic and pull into fields instead of stopping on the side of a road.

Drivers should never use a cellphone or other electronics while operating the vehicle. They should place a slow-moving vehicle sticker or use flashing lights to improve visibility and decrease risk. Confirm state laws to verify drivers you hire can truck legally.

What to ask for when hiring drivers

Drivers help maintain your livelihood, but an accident on the highway can spill precious grain and, worse, result in injuries or death. Avoid those risks by evaluating candidates against these criteria.

Employment History. As a farm operator, you’ll need to take time to train any hires. Job-hoppers might not be worth the effort.

Clean Record. Excess speeding tickets, charges from driving under the influence and other moving violations should be a red flag. Perform a background check for any criminal convictions.

Tested Experience. Look for people with experience driving tractor trailers and determine whether they graduated from a professional truck-driving school.

Regular Availability. Drivers must be available for a considerable amount of time during harvest. If candidates have another job, find out if they will be available when you need them on the farm.

Reliable Skills. Seek an individual who is reliable. You need to be sure they will show up on time, be sober and have a good work ethic.

Evaluate Soil Economics

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 20:58:11 GMT

Data points are being collected on more than 4,000 acres

A soil health program aimed at determining the economic, yield and environmental benefits of farm practices such as cover crops, nutrient management and reduced tillage has enrolled 111 farms across 12 states.

The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) is an initiative of the National Corn Growers Association that is testing conservation practices on farms using 20- to 80-acre plots. The size of the test fields “allows us to have reduced variability on each farm to strengthen our data set,” says Jack Cornell, operations manager for SHP.

The research trials take place on just over 4,000 acres across the program, but that doesn’t necessarily reflect its magnitude, Cornell says. “It’s important to understand that these acres are representative research acres, strategically placed geographically to represent different soil types, climates, and cropping systems,” he says. “This program is not necessarily about how many acres change practices within SHP. It’s about how the data those farms gather can demonstrate a positive economic impact from these practices, and that in turn can convince many more farmers to adopt the practices on a larger scale.”

The program receives financial support from Monsanto, NCGA, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Walton Family Foundation, General Mills and the Midwest Row Crop Collaborative. Technical support is from the Environmental Defense Fund and The Nature Conservancy.

It aims to provide long-term, farm-specific data insights including soil lab reports, mid-season aerial imagery, and profitability and ROI analysis in partnership with startup AgSolver (now EFC Systems).

The project leaders shared interim data at farmer field days and research meetings this summer and fall throughout the Midwest, and researchers will prepare articles for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals, SHP director Nick Goeser says.

Killing the Input Beast

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:03:33 GMT

The gospel of high yields at all costs has a new apostate. In 2012, Johnny Hunter pumped massive amounts of water onto his crops, but could only watch as extended drought drained yield from his fields. Cost of production demanded 230-250 bu. corn, 70-80 bu. soybeans and 3-bale cotton. When those levels weren’t achieved, particularly with the worst corn harvest of his career, financial trouble followed. He steadied his nerve, pulled the handbrake on his operation, and began a manic search for a soil solution.

Hunter was victim to agriculture’s version of the death of a thousand cuts through endless rounds of $5 treatments. A switch to a no till cover crop system tailored to his Essex, Mo., ground changed his entire management dynamic and provided a booster shot to weed control, irrigation efficiency and overall soil health.

YouTube Yearning

When the last tractor was shut down and harvest dust settled on a dismal 2012, Hunter was frustrated and playing against time. Despite pumping the most water of his career across a high tillage and big input system, another poor year in 2013 would place his operation in dire financial straits.

“One year and all the money I’d made was negated,” he says. “You can farm like that and make a living, but you can’t stub your toe or suffer a hiccup because you’ve spent so much money. It’s a fragile, uneasy spot and a lot of farmers are in it.”

Heavy tillage was the default practice on Hunter’s southeast Missouri operation, peppered with blanket fertilizer across all acres. Almost invariably, at least one treatment of some sort was sprayed weekly – an inordinate amount of money to increase yield.

“I was killing myself with $5 and $7 treatments to bring bushel increases,” Hunter says. “Yes, in some instances that’s exactly what happened, but we just kept bleeding profit.”

He typically doctored 2,450 acres of farmland with the intensive management of a man possessed: increased fertilization rates, tissue sampling, and micronutrient applications were only a portion of an ever growing regimen. The knee-jerk solution to go from red to black? Buy more metal in the form of a 20’ disk ripper and tear ground to shreds to increase water infiltration.

In December, while hunting online for the right machinery, Hunter clicked a tillage radish advertisement. In turn, the radish link led to a series of YouTube cover crop videos. He was hooked and hardly left his house for a week, consuming soil health videos and chasing more cover crop links. The penny dropped and Hunter knew he was on the trail of a turnaround.

In the mix of cover crop videos and literature, a particular name kept surfacing: National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) conservation agronomist Ray Archuleta. Hunter emailed Archuleta on a Saturday night; Archuleta called Hunter on Sunday morning. Hunter’s journey to soil health had begun.

“Johnny was trying to find a better way to survive,” Archuleta recalls. “ Cover crops are merely a tool, not the goal. The goal is simple: Copy nature and increase soil function to cut back on input dependency. Understanding what’s going on in the soil system and how to use cover crops is the key.”

“Ray patiently explained how a cover crop system would benefit my overall efficiency,” Hunter says. “Sure, I was scared and felt like I was walking out on a high-dive board, but I was more scared of keeping on with the same practices and going out of business. Another bad year and I was knocked out.”

Hunter’s cover crop scheme is a fluid mix, and he rarely repeats the exact recipe of cereal rye, annual rye, black oats, hairy vetch, crimson clover, red clover, and Austrian winter peas. He doesn’t kill covers early in the year and believes a loose 75% of benefits are derived in spring. Erosion benefits come in winter, but Hunter wants a living root as soil warms. Before corn and soybeans, he terminates covers 48 hours ahead of the planter.

“The last thing I need to do is kill covers in February,” Hunter notes. “I like a healthy balance of good biomass to put carbon in my soil, and having a good place to plant my cash crop.”

Most of Hunter’s farmland is precision graded and divided into 40- to 80-acre fields, with soils ranging from sandy to Sharkey clay gumbo. Cover crops serve as a sponge and can factor heavily in the delicate dance between early planting and rutted up ground. A big April rain on buckshot is stressful and can destroy a planting schedule, but cover crops wick away a significant amount of excess moisture and preserve precious time during early spring.

Termination occurs 48 to 72 hours before planting. When soil temperatures reach close to 60 F at midday, Hunter chemically terminates with Gramoxone (or a combination of Roundup and Sharpen) and may carry the mix with liquid fertilizer. The next day he leaves the field idle as chemicals translocate, and sends in planters with mounted rollers the following day.

“Getting a cover crop terminated and laid flat on the soil surface, and then planted into as quickly as possible provides the best results,” Hunter says. “I want the cover lying flat on the soil surface so it provides benefits fast: weed suppression, moisture retention, and soil health.”

Cash Back

Palmer amaranth loves sunlight, but can’t handle thick layers of cereal rye. Through 2012, resistant Palmer pressure caused Hunter’s herbicide bill to balloon, yet after a single year of cover crops in 2013, the reduction in pigweed was remarkable. When Hunter gets a cover laid down and no tills through the mat, he says the result is the best residual herbicide money can buy. The covers impede germination by crowding out weed seeds and blocking sunlight, but cereal rye and tillage radishes also produce natural allelopathic chemicals to hinder broadleaf weed seed.

Through a no till, cover crop system, Hunter is taking bites out of the herbicide monster . Blanket pre-emerge spraying is no longer a necessity. Contingent on the cover type, a stout layer of biomass won’t even allow pre-emerge chemicals to reach the soil. However, on gar holes, skips, and odd spots, Hunter still applies pre-emerge to avoid weed problem areas. Overall, by eliminating a chain of spray trips, he’s gained substantial herbicide cost savings.

“My goal is to continue dropping weed pressure to get away from weed chopping and high herbicide bills. These are the kind of savings that make us profitable,” Hunter says.

Fertilizer and soil nutrients remain in the soil far better with Hunter’s cover system, with generally clear water leaving the bottom of fields, instead of a mocha slurry. Irrigation was an initial worry for Hunter, but slicing through the mat with a furrow tool carved a clean water path. Most of his acreage is furrow irrigated with polypipe, and the covers slow down water flow to increase irrigation efficiency, according to Hunter. Essentially, it means increased soaking time for crops and more moisture contained by residue.

“No more turning on wells and never turning them off,” Hunter says. “Irrigation is another area to save money.”

Weening Inputs

During the brutal 2012 drought, producer Peter Rost, New Madrid, Mo., watched corn burn even under irrigation. As he saw soil health benefits blossom on Hunter’s ground, Rost took note and began implementing cover crops in 2014. Hunter and Rost are among a handful of growers using a cover crop system in adjoining Stoddard and New Madrid counties. In 2016, Rost had 50% of his 3,500 acres in cover crops, but plans to boost coverage to 95% in 2017.

“This is not a sprint and I can’t suddenly cut out fertilizer applications and spraying,” Rost says. “However, I’m getting weened off intensive irrigation, heavy nutrients and non-stop spray passes.”

Rost is already seeing returns through a reduction of input costs from a heavy cover mat to choke weeds and thick biomass to increase irrigation infiltration and ensure water doesn’t slide down a hard middle.

“I’m planting a lot of hairy vetch and clover, and I’m looking forward to curbing back my nutrient applications by year four or five,” he says.

Catching Sun

The principles of soil health don’t rest on cover crops, Archuleta advocates. His aim isn’t to guide a producer toward cover crops; it’s to understand soil health context and biomimicry. Cover crops are merely a tool to put the soil system in motion and withstand drought, hold more water and cycle nutrients more efficiently. Harvesting corn and soybeans from a field and leaving it bare is a loss for the soil and ultimately a profit loss for the producer through energy and nutrient leaks, Archuleta emphasizes.

He believes the most effective way to make money on a farm is to capture solar energy.

“Is your farm running on ancient sunlight or new sunlight? Ancient sunlight is diesel, gasoline, pesticides, and chemical inputs. New sunlight farmers use cover crops to capture sunlight which pumps carbon into the soil ecosystem which significantly reduces those inputs,” Archuleta says.

And how do the numbers stack up? On average, producers following the soil health system have reaped astounding savings, according to Archuleta .

“I’ve already watched farmers reduce nitrogen needs by 50%, fuel consumption by 75%, and herbicide use by 75%,” he says. “I’ve seen some operations entirely eliminate fungicides and insecticides.”

Never Till

In farming reality, weather and ruts dictate certain management necessities, but with 75% of his acreage in no till, Hunter’s goal is to continue minimizing tillage.

“I don’t care if you’re in Michigan, Mississippi or Missouri; tillage is detrimental to soil health. In a perfect world, my ground would be in never till. That’s the ideology I chase, but I also understand the nature of the beast.”

And what does Hunter advise other producers considering cover crop implementation? Education, research, and small steps.

“Educate yourself away from fear by looking at a ton of available resources,” he says. “Field days, soil health alliances, and NRCS professionals are waiting. It may sound silly at first, but YouTube is a treasure trove.”

As a third-generation producer, Hunter, 35, jumped to 5,400 acres in 2016: cotton , field corn, popcorn, soybeans, rice and pumpkins. Admittedly, he was once scared to make changes, but profitability and the future of his operation forced his hand: “Lots of people say they want to change, but the reality is otherwise. Everybody wants different results, but few are willing to change their business.”

Family business: How to sustain the company with the next generation

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:37:54 GMT

CHICAGO — In an industry that’s shaped by family-run businesses, planning for the next era of a company’s future can be rife with deep-seated feelings and complications.

But bad blood can be neutralized if one key word is embodied: Plan. So said the panelists and moderator at the “Family Business: Building the Future for a Sustainable Business” workshop at the United Fresh Produce Association’s Conference and Expo on June 10.

“If you pre-plan, there’s no argument. You can avoid the inevitable battle that could possibly tear your family apart,” said Adam Gamble, president of Wadena, Minn.-based Russ Davis Wholesale Inc.

The company was founded by Russ Davis and taken over by his son-in-law. They agreed to exclude the third generation and made a plan to sell, he said. Gamble is the non-family member leader of the newer ownership.

The biggest issues in Greg Corsaro’s family business are titles, responsibilities and compensation levels. He’s president of Indianapolis Fruit Co. Inc. , which has eight family members involved.

“(You have) shareholders thinking their child should be in a certain place with respect to the others,” Corsaro said. “Now we’re owned by a private equity group, but before, we had a lot of plans in place.”

Good plans include rules for buying and selling the company and compensation parameters laid out on paper.

“You have to have honest communication, but sometimes you don’t want to say something because you don’t want to hurt their feelings. That’s a challenge,” Corsaro said.

A solution in telling working family members things they need to hear is to meet with them regularly, such as every 90 days, said panel moderator Henry Hutcheson, president of Family Business Inc.

“You care about each other, but you need to run a business. When you enclose yourself in a room on a regular basis, it gets easier,” Hutcheson said.

You have to keep pushing the things that get uncomfortable, said Leslie Simmons, vice president of Dave’s Specialty Imports Inc. Her grandfather founded company. Today, four family members are involved, including her father, the company president.

Also, it’s important to reach outside the family for help in difficult situations sometimes.

“I can sit in a hamster wheel of indecision, or I can call up someone who’s been through something similar and ask how they handled the situation,” Simmons said. “You can get really stuck with the same thinking. Get in groups, do volunteering. Push yourself to reach outside your family business and ask smart people smart questions.”

A successful transition in a family business needs three things, Hutcheson said:

The next generation has to be sufficiently interested and capable or have potential to be interested and capable;
The current generation has to be willing to hand it over; and
The next generation has to get along well enough together to run the business.

But when considering successors, look beyond the family pool of potential hires, Hutcheson said. “If you narrow down the talent pool to just family members, that can be a problem. You’re limiting yourself,” he said.

A good, neutral resource for figuring out how to pay family members in the business is the United Fresh Produce Industry Compensation Report , a few panelists said.

Related news:

Prioritizing Resource Use on Cattle Operations Part 1: People and Time

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:30:23 GMT

By: Jane Parish, Extension Beef Cattle Specialist, Mississippi State University

From long-term strategic decisions to daily operational decisions, every on-farm choice is really about use of resources and the associated tradeoffs involved. By examining these resource interactions, informed decisions can be made about best uses. This approach can help to view each decision in terms of its expected uses of resources and resulting contributions to resource bases and operational goals. This article focuses on two important resource categories: people and time resources.

Human Capital
Arguably the most important resource category on a cattle operation is human capital – a fancy term for the people involved in the operation. People contribute expertise, skills, ideas, and effort to raising cattle. Having access to great financial and physical resources can certainly provide advantages to an operation, but poor management of those resources by the people making and implementing the decisions will erode these other resources with little to show for it. Think about the “cheap hire” that is not properly skilled or motivated in farm equipment use and causes repair bills that outweigh the fruits of the worker’s labor. Having a tractor with handy features can be good, but putting the right operator on the tractor is just as important.

In practice, this means that it is worthwhile to invest in the people of the operation. Relevant continuing education and training opportunities are one way to do this. This is true for top level management all the way through to entry level day laborers. Make sure that people are prepared for what they do on the cattle operation. For managers, this may involve not only keeping up with current technologies and best management practices, but also being exposed to additional technologies and trends that may be further developed or adapted to play a future role in the operation. This allows managers to make better long-term plans that help the operation to achieve and sustain a competitive edge. With the advent of online resources that make scheduling and distance constraints a non-factor, people running cattle operations have fewer excuses to forgo continuous learning about new technologies and cattle operation management.

Being willing to compensate people according to their talent levels and performance results is another aspect of human capital management that should not be overlooked. The adage, “You get what you pay for,” is reality in many on-farm situations. Investing monetarily in good employees can facilitate the acquisition of a more talented workforce, help reduce turnover and downtime, and reduce the risk of having to deal with problem workers. Of course, good screening during the selection process is critical to making this work as intended. Compensation rates should consider the expected return on investment of each prospective worker. Ask the question, “Will paying the employee this much more result in increased profits over time that more than make up for the extra pay?” Compensation typically includes more than just wages or salary. Benefits such as living quarters, insurance, work vehicle access, on-the-job training, etc. can be included in negotiations with prospective talent to attract valuable employees to the operation. Non-monetary compensation can also include job satisfaction, job security, a sense of being appreciated, and other personal values.

Time
Time is a resource that once spent cannot be replaced. It can be easily wasted in the course of running a cattle operation if efficient yet effective processes, task prioritization, and overall good time management practices are not implemented. Time is something that can be measured for accountability purposes and efficiency evaluation, making it something that lends itself to the effects of management.

Time and money are intertwined. Interest on borrowed or invested funds accrues over time. Price levels change over time meaning that what one dollar can buy today is likely to not be the same as what one dollar can buy in the future. Also, people working on the operation are getting paid for their time contributions to the operation, whether by the hour or year. Make sure that the time that people put into the operation justifies the payment for that time. Proper training and motivation of people can help to improve productivity per unit of time.

If workers skimp on their responsibilities or do not perform to their potential due to poor time management, then managers should address time resource use. Managers can introduce time management techniques and oversight to improve time use among cattle operation workers. Examples of this include reducing workplace distractions and time wasters, keeping priority order to-do lists, and setting and enforcing practical deadlines. Keep time logs to identify tasks or projects that could benefit from time management improvement. Then examine these processes to determine what changes might be needed to improve time efficiency. When tasks are better performed by a team than individually, try to accommodate this and vice-versa to make best use of everyone’s time involved.

Time management decisions should also include ways to maintain a healthy work and life balance that will benefit workers and lead to better contributions by these people to the operation over the long run. Avoid extreme situations that can bring about worker burn out or risk key tasks not getting done in a timely and quality manner. Schedule labor and assign tasks so that one worker does not carry an impractical work load while others are allowed excessive downtime.

Resource Interactions
Regardless of resource classification, good management is needed to put these resources to best use on cattle operations. To do this, anticipate how other resources will be affected by use of a particular resource in a certain way for a specified purpose. Small changes in resource use can have a ripple effect on other resources involved in the operation. For example, spending extra time to perform preventative maintenance on machinery may take time and money on the front end but could save time, money, and people on the back end by reducing the risk of equipment failures or injuries.

Cattle operation owners and managers should determine priorities for the various resource bases in the context of the ultimate goals for the operation. Is the overriding goal to expand physical resources (assets) and financial resources? Is the driving reason behind operating so that a certain lifestyle or enjoyment from cattle production be achieved? What is more important, leisure time or money? In other words, what is the ideal resource balance and what operational decisions will work to achieve it?

Tomorrow’s article will continue this topic with a look at prioritizing the use of physical and financial resources on cattle operations.

Employee Training Important to Dairy and Beef

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:30:09 GMT

High employee turnover can lead to inconsistent animal production or potentially lower quality products, both meat and milk. “How is this possible?” asks Heidi Carroll, SDSU Extension Livestock Stewardship Extension Associate.

“Is it because cattle get accustomed to routines and the people who perform tasks in their home environment? Familiarity does minimize stress, which promotes good health and production,” Carroll said. “The animals become comfortable eating and gaining weight or in the parlor letting milk down. Keep in mind that cattle are able to identify individual handlers and remember positive and negative handling experiences that impact milk production and subsequent behavior during handling.”

Therefore, Carroll said training new employees can cause inconsistence in job protocol performance, until tasks are mastered, which impacts the quality of the product produced.

“In times of high employee turnover, dairy managers may potentially see a drop in milk production or quality as cows adjust to new individuals. This is why employee training should be a priority to be able to maintain consistent procedures for the cattle,” she said.

She references a 2014 study that showed handlers to be the top factor to establish adequate cattle flow on dairies, above facilities, animals, and the environment. “In the same study, cows of producers who had participated in stockmanship training produced around 1,782 pounds more milk per lactation than cows of those who had not completed the training.

“Even though stockmanship training had a positive impact, the major barriers to employee training are time limitations and language,” Carroll said. “Managers should be proactive to implement thorough employee training during times of employee turnover to minimize losses.”

Beef cattle operations

On the other hand, in beef cattle operations, signs of dropped production and increased illness or injuries from additional stress on cattle can show up when a new individual handles them differently due to employee turnover.

“According to findings in a 2012 study, training programs on best animal welfare practices and supervision of pre-slaughter management procedures lowered the percentage of carcasses downgraded due to severe bruising,” Carroll said. “However, a need to maintain constant follow-up of employee performance was apparent as suggested by a subsequent increase in downgraded carcasses six months following training.”

She added that similar decreases in carcass bruising were observed when best management practices were adopted during sorting and load out procedures such as improvements in handling, eliminating shouting and aggressive handling, such as hits and electric prodding.

Tips to achieve consistent high quality products:

Establish an employee training program promoting animal well-being and low-stress handling methods. This could include quality assurance trainings (BQA or DACQA), stockmanship and handling demonstrations, or task-specific training (milking, feeding, or vaccination protocols).
Invest in employee performance reviews providing positive feedback on tasks done well and providing re-training on tasks that do not meet managerial expectations. These do not need to be formal, just take advantage of daily moments to give praise, reinforce or correct performance demonstrating desired techniques.
Utilize written standard operating procedures (SOPs) and make them readily accessible to employees so tasks are performed the same and can be easily referenced. Remember to provide SOPs in employees’ first language for clear understanding of directions.
Hold regular employee meetings with open communication about the goals for the farm and animal productivity. Connect each employee’s role into how they will help achieve these goals.
Celebrate achievement of goals with employees when they are met.

“Establishing ways to maintain consistency on your operation during employee turnover will help promote high quality milk and meat products for our food supply,” Carroll said.

For cattle managers working with Spanish-speaking employees, or those considering hiring Spanish-speaking employees, further discussion on cultural considerations can be found at the iGrow Dairy Community.

Cattle Grazing and Clean Water Can Coexist on Public Lands

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:37:32 GMT

Cattle grazing and clean water can coexist on national forest lands, according to research by the University of California (UC), Davis.

The study, published today in the journal PLOS ONE , is the most comprehensive examination of water quality on National Forest public grazing lands to date.

“There’s been a lot of concern about public lands and water quality, especially with cattle grazing,” said lead author Leslie Roche, a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. “We’re able to show that livestock grazing, public recreation and the provisioning of clean water can be compatible goals.”

Roughly 1.8 million livestock graze on national forest lands in the western U.S. each year, the study says. In California, 500 active grazing allotments support 97,000 livestock across 8 million acres on 17 national forests.

“With an annual recreating population of over 26 million, California’s national forests are at the crossroad of a growing debate about the compatibility of livestock grazing with other activities dependent upon clean, safe water,” the study’s authors write.

“We often hear that livestock production isn’t compatible with environmental goals,” said principal investigator Kenneth Tate, a Cooperative Extension specialist in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. “This helps to show that’s not absolutely true. There is no real evidence that we’re creating hot spots of human health risk with livestock grazing in these areas.”

The study was conducted in 2011, during the grazing and recreation season of June through November. Nearly 40 UC Davis researchers, ranchers, USDA Forest Service staff and environmental stakeholders went out by foot and on horseback, hiking across meadows, along campsites, and down ravines to collect 743 water samples from 155 sites across five national forests in northern California.

These areas stretched from Klamath National Forest to Plumas, Tahoe, Stanislaus, and Shasta-Trinity national forests. They included key cattle grazing areas, recreational lands and places where neither cattle nor humans tend to wander.

UC Davis researchers analyzed the water samples for microbial and nutrient pollution, including fecal indicator bacteria, fecal coliform, E. coli, nitrogen and phosphorous.

The scientists found that recreation sites were the cleanest, with the lowest levels of fecal indicator bacteria. They found no significant differences in fecal indicator bacteria between grazing lands and areas without recreation or grazing. Overall, 83% of all sample sites and 95% of all water samples collected were below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) benchmarks for human health.

The study noted that several regional regulatory programs use different water quality standards for fecal bacteria. For instance, most of the study’s sample sites would exceed levels set by a more restrictive standard based on fecal coliform concentrations. However, the U.S. EPA states that E. coli are better indicators of fecal contamination and provide the most accurate assessment of water quality conditions and human health risks.

The study also found that all nutrient concentrations were at or below background levels, and no samples exceeded concentrations of ecological or human health concern.

The study was funded by the USDA Forest Service, Region 5.

To read the study, visit, http://bit.ly/11G9Adv
You can learn more about grazing and water quality at http://rangelandwatersheds.ucdavis.edu/ .

Father to Son

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:38 GMT

By Karl Wolfshohl

An easy transfer of reins for a farm business

Planting season arrives early on the Texas Coastal Bend. On this February morning, the father-and-son duo of Bob and Jon Whatley of Odem, Texas, runs into a problem. A monitor in the tractor cab shows corn seed isn’t dropping as it should, with significant skips.

Jon gets busy in the cab, tinkering with the monitor while his dad and employee Raymond Hernandez remove planter boxes and inspect plates and other parts.

“This is just like us,” Jon says with a smile. “When we see a problem, I go to the computer and Dad goes to the mechanical systems.”

This is a big year for Bob and Jon. Until now, Bob has taken most of the financial risk and been the ultimate decision maker. This year, Jon is solely in charge of farming operations, with most of the operating loans and the bulk of the responsibility. Bob pays him to manage.

“Dad’s not ready to retire, but at 75 he’s ready to lessen his risk,” says Jon, who is 42. Jon was prepared to take this responsibility.

Bob says, “Communication has been the key to this whole thing.”

Waiting to Come Home. Bob has been mentoring his son for this transfer of responsibility since 1994, when Jon came back to the farm after college and a job away from home. Of course, like so many farm kids, Jon had been learning from his dad since the age of 8, when he helped his father run a cotton module builder.

“I cried when I thought he was going to hire somebody else to do that job,” Jon recalls.

“As a kid in summers, he worked on a tractor for me and I paid him like anybody else,” Bob says.

Since his first year of farming on his own, with his dad’s encouragement, Jon has arranged his own financing and operated independently in many ways.

“One of the best things my dad did was push me toward financial independence, which helped me make better decisions,” Jon says.

“I was more ready to take over the rented land and equipment this year than if I’d been tied to him financially. This year, I doubled my operating loan, and a banker didn’t have to ask if I was capable.”

The men made a dry run in 2010 and prepared for Bob to turn over management decisions this year. “We planned how we would handle the change personally, then we worked with accountants so we would handle it right financially,” Jon says.

Tackling problems takes teamwork. From left: Employee Raymond Hernandez, Bob Whatley and Jon Whatley investigate a seed-drop issue together. PHOTO: Karl Wolfshohl

Finances in Line. Financial calculations were at the core. The men looked at 10 years of average profit per acre for their usual crop mix of cotton, corn, sorghum and hay, as well as a small beef cattle herd, on 5,000 acres. From those, they determined a single price Jon would charge his dad for producing a crop.

Each man conferred with dealers, Extension agents and other farmers for their experiences and advice, then wrote these down, Bob on paper and Jon on a spreadsheet.

“What’s a fair deal?” Jon asks. “It has to be fair to him and fair to me, but where is that number? This is our first year, so we are still working that out, and we agreed that we will renegotiate next December.”

Equipment Sharing. Until this year, Jon rented equipment from Bob. This year, it’s the other way around. Jon has taken over all farmland rentals. Now employees work for Jon, and Bob pays him to manage them. Jon orders all chemicals and seed and does the budgeting. His wife, Kelly, keeps the books.

The men operate under separate partnerships with their wives.

“Dad doesn’t have any equipment or repair bills now,” Jon says. “Those fall on me. He makes quarterly payments to me, and this provides consistency for him.”

What does the future hold? Jon hopes it involves his sons Payne, 14, and Jackson, 11, who work for him in the summer. But he’ll wait and see. “Both boys like driving tractors, and I pay them like any other employee,” he says. “I put no pressure on them. When they turn 16, they’ll need to go drive tractors for friends of mine to get a different perspective.

“If they decide to come back here and farm, they’ll need a college education first, and then they’ll need to go get a job somewhere else before they start for me.” This is, of course, a page from his dad’s book on cultivating a future farm executive.

“I want to expand the size of this operation and be more profitable per acre,” Jon continues. “In the long run, I’d like to turn this over to my kids and go play golf with my dad. Tomorrow comes real quick, you know.”

What Makes Their Farm Go

Bob Whatley is detail-oriented; his son Jon isn’t. They have different management styles, but here’s how they generally handle executive decisions.

Hiring: They hire to fill in their gaps. A self-described big-picture guy, Jon employs detail-oriented people because, as he says, it would be crazy for him to hire somebody with his personality. Crop consultant Daryl Moseley is “as important as the diesel we put in our tractors,” Jon says. “I want him to say, ‘we need this,’ and it’s my job to decide whether we do or don’t.”

Labor Management: Jon expects loyalty from his two full-time employees, Raymond Hernandez and Martin Cruz. “But loyalty starts with me,” he says. “They have to feel ownership, so I ask their opinions.” The Whatleys also provide work clothes and local gasoline for Hernandez and Cruz and time off for their kids’ school activities. Bob and Jon may take a while to agree on how to do something, but their employees see only a unified front.

Purchasing: “We each own a certain percentage of equipment,” Jon says. “Together we purchase equipment, fuel, fertilizer and feed because of a volume discount.”

Marketing: Never market chasers, the men ensure the consistency of their crop rotation with nutrient and herbicide programs. Each man markets his own crops. “Once we decide to sell, we do so and don’t look back, or we would make ourselves sick,” Jon says.

Landlords and Leasing: As is typical on the Texas Coastal Bend, the Whatleys rent from dozens of landlords—13 on one piece of land, for example. Most are computer savvy, and Jon keeps them updated by e-mail.

Technology: The Whatleys are big on GPS and nutrient management. Jon is a cooperator with John Deere and is testing new touch screens and software for guidance systems. In 2010, they started applying fertilizer in variable rates across 15% of their acres and are slowly expanding. They are also trying out a fertilizer stabilizing product, Hydra-Hume, from Helena. Yet, experience has taught them to be a bit cautious about diving into what’s new too fast.

Public Service: Both men volunteer in multiple organizations, business and personal. Bob has encouraged his son to give of his time. Jon is currently president of Texas Cotton Producers and the South Texas Cotton and Grain Association. He serves on other boards, including the Odem-Edroy school board, and coaches Little League.

Top of Mind: A Leadership Challenge

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:29 GMT

The 4"x6" business book that recently arrived in my mailbox may be tiny in size, but it offers huge insights for farmers. Each page of 50 Lessons on Leading for Those with Little Time for Reading conveys words of wisdom and uses playful graphics to communicate lessons on leadership, management, human resources and self-improvement.

The author, Steve Boehlke, is the founder of SFB Associates, a global consulting practice that advises senior executives on strategies for developing leaders with integrity. His clients have included Cargill, ExxonMobil, General Mills and Hewlett-Packard. Boehlke encourages readers to open the book at random and ponder a different statement each week. Here are a few of his leadership lessons that I think apply to the business of farming:

Leadership is setting the course beyond the horizon.
Leadership is passing the ball when you want to take the shot.
Leadership is making plans, not imposing them.

Farm Journal succession planning expert Kevin Spafford is convinced that one of the biggest detriments to farm succession is not preparing the next generation for leadership. As we work with young producers in our Tomorrow’s Top Producer program, I see a need for mentors in the farm community—experienced farmers who are willing to share what they know and guide the next generation. Our cover producer, Mike Pitts, was lucky enough to have found those mentors. Read more .

What are you doing to lead your business with vision and integrity? Are you clearly and concisely communicating your goals with employees? I challenge you to ponder how you might lead in a new way. Pick up Boehlke’s book for inspiration.

No Negativity. Last week I received a phone call from a farmer about the March issue of Top Producer and, in particular, the article “Big Battle Brewing.” His point of contention was not the article itself—which dealt with the fact that high commodity prices have created demand for acres from all crops—but the connotation our headline made about the industry. He said it made it seem like corn farmers dislike cotton growers and soybean producers.

“How are consumers supposed to trust our industry when it looks like we are fighting each other?” he asked. I completely agree. While that headline may have grabbed a few more eyeballs, it sent a subliminal message that farmers are pitted against farmers, something that couldn’t be further from the truth and a message that could easily be perpetuated by anti-agriculture interests.

I’ve made a decision to try to lead my peers in farm media by not using negative headlines. It may seem a simple act, but effective leadership is often developed through small steps.

5 Tips for Managing Employees

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:34 GMT

Competitive salary and benefits are just the start to building your farm team

At Larson Farms Partnership in Maple Park, Ill., employee management is top of mind. The proof of their management success is longevity—one employee has been working for the farm for 33 years and now his son is part of the team.

“Communication is the biggest challenge,” says Mike Martz, a partner at Larson Farms. Four family members work with the farm’s four full-time employees daily and its part-time help in the spring and fall. “We can’t have four individuals telling them all what to do,” Martz says. “Everyone has something they are in charge of.”

Larson Farms offers competitive salary and benefits but does not pay health insurance. “There is a huge variance in what employees want, so we give them extra salary and let them choose their own,” Martz says.

The following five tips are helpful guidelines for managing employees.

1. Find the right employees. The first step to successful employee management is finding the right employees. One place to look is the Internet, says William Edwards, an economist at Iowa State University. He suggests www.hansenagriplacement.com and www.agri-placement.com.
Other places, he says, are classified ads in farm magazines and postings at the local community college, high school and even churches. The tried-and-true method of word of mouth is possibly the best source.

When visiting with a potential candidate, Edwards says, it’s important to explain the job and its responsibilities in detail. For operations with more than 10 employees, it’s a good idea to have an employee handbook that addresses work hours and other expectations.

Larson Farms’ Mike Martz recalls a problem with a worker he had to let go. The employee would show up for work at 8:30, when the farm standard was 7. “If I had interviewed him properly, that wouldn’t have happened,” he says.

Too often, employers look solely at the experience of prospective workers when they should be looking at potential and ability, says Roger Williams, a farm mediator and emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin. “Key traits for farm employees are initiative and reliability,” he adds. “Employees can be trained in the required skills.”

2. Be specific. Once you’ve hired a person for the job, Williams says, be sure to assign that person an entire job to complete, rather than just individual tasks, so he can develop pride in what he does. Meet regularly with the employee to share expectations on how to get the job done. “This only has to take a few minutes,” Williams adds.

It’s also imperative, Williams advises, for farmers to develop the art of listening to their workers. “Actively summarize what employees say so they know they have been heard.” Farmers should also share their thoughts with their employees: “Don’t expect your workers to be mind readers,” he says.

Overall, the No. 1 problem Williams has seen throughout the years is communication. “Rather than say, ‘I need this done now,’ a better way is to say, ‘This is what we need to do today.’ Treat people as partners,” he suggests.

Dean Heffta, director of development for Water Street Solutions, notes that farms generally start as father–son operations, but as the operations grow in size, they might need five, six or up to 20 employees.

“Managing employees is not a standard skill for producers,” he says. His firm offers risk management and financial consulting but also works with producers on employee management practices.

Heffta notes that farmers often get frustrated with new employees because they need direction; they need to be taught. He thinks it better to have one family member whose responsibility includes employee management, perhaps because he or she has more people skills. “If everyone is responsible for everything, nobody is responsible for anything,” Heffta states.

In Heffta’s experience, there are two types of key communication beyond the day-to-day. One is a weekly team meeting that goes over what’s important in the days ahead and who will tackle which projects. The other is the employee review, which should be conducted quar-terly. “A year is way too long,” he says. The review should include a discussion about setting goals. “A piece of paper won’t replace a personal conversation,” Heffta says.

Beyond the more formal meetings with workers, he says, frequent and informal feedback is also important. He adds, though, that communication involves more than a farmer giving feedback to workers.

3. Control your emotions. Employers should not approach workers when they’re angry, Williams says. “Count to 10, 15, maybe even 1,000, reflect on it, and then go to the employee and say, ‘When such and such happened, I was angry because … In the future, let’s try doing it this way.’”

One issue farmers in a family business often face is treating their employees like adolescents, Williams says. “Treat your employees with respect and use adult-to-adult problem-solving techniques.”

Martz says that one way to manage multiple workers is to make sure that issues are resolved quickly. “Let’s say two employees have different opinions on how to fix a piece of equipment. Talk to them, let each of them talk and get it resolved. You can’t let conflict fester,” he says.
Martz adds that he’s not a judge.

“I don’t let things get out of hand, though,” he says. “It has to be a team approach.”

4. Set clear expectations. Many farmers do not set clear expectations for new employees. “In one case that resulted in conflict, the employee expected a clear boundary between at-work and not-at-work, where the farmer expected the employee to be on call 24 hours a day,” Heffta says.

Furthermore, he says, it’s important to warn employees about upcoming busy seasons so they can take care of personal business, such as routine doctor’s appointments, ahead of time. “Perhaps suggest time off in July and August if it’s a grain farm.”

While family members who grew up on the farm might automatically know the farm’s schedule, it’s not realistic to think that new employees will, Heffta adds. “It’s a good idea to set expectations for how employees should plan for the demands of the busy seasons.”

5. Be fair on benefits. One benefit farmers might want to consider is a 401k retirement plan, which most businesses offer. “Farm salaries have to be competitive with the technical jobs
in town,” Heffta says.

Farmers need to move beyond the concept of cheap labor, Heffta adds. “Cheap labor can become expensive,” he explains. For example, say a cheap laborer is driving a semi and it ends up in a ditch. The careless employee not only risks the loss of the truck and the grain but poses a greater
safety liability problem.

Heffta believes that farm owners are responsible for defining the culture of the operation, which is crucial if you want to have a good reputation in the community. One point he encourages producers to think about is offering more consistent work hours, at least during the seasons in which that’s possible.

The reality is that the pool of workers who grew up on a farm is dwindling, Heffta says. As a result, future workers will come from towns and cities and will expect to be treated like urban workers.

“Farmers have to look at what there is on the farm that makes working there attractive,” Heffta says. Some of those things might be the opportunity to work outdoors, to be a valuable member of a team and to have a unique work experience every day.

Be a Better Boss

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:21 GMT

Effective leadership starts with choices

No one likes being known as a poor boss, yet many bosses suffer from a bad reputation, a history of treating people badly and an “it’s your fault” attitude.

Why? “It’s the choices poor bosses make,” says Bernie Erven, professor emeritus of ag economics at The Ohio State University, who spoke on human resources at The Execu-tive Program for Ag Producers (TEPAP) in Austin, Texas. “It isn’t because they are bad people, it isn’t because they don’t care, it isn’t that they are insensitive. Often, those bad bosses are hurting more than anyone else on the farm.”

You can become a better boss by making better choices, Erven says. Below are his guidelines to improve your human resource skills.

Welcome Change

Accept that change is difficult for most people
Show your willingness to change
Provide employees with the what, why and when of change
Determine why employees resist change and address their concerns

Emphasize Communication

Make communication the key to building employee relationships
Send important messages
Vary how you send messages
Encourage questions

Have Clear Procedures, Policies and Rules

Make your procedures understandable and practical
Explain the whys behind procedures, policies and rules
Consider written job descriptions, an employee handbook and regular staff meetings

Show Enthusiasm

Make your enthusiasm contagious
Make believe you are enthusiastic until a bad mood passes
Take advantage of your charisma, if you are lucky enough to have it. “Charisma is that very special quality of people wanting to please you, just because you are you,” Erven says.

Be Fair

Avoid bias, dishonesty and injustice
Have consistent discipline and enforcement rules
Be friendly with all employees; be a buddy to no employee
Show empathy, which means understanding another person’s situation, feelings and attitude

Continue Learning

Figure out how you best learn
Be humble about what you know
Keep learning to stay competent
Take advantage of what your employees know
Be flexible

Communicate in a Variety of Ways

Adjust your leadership style to each person supervised
Delegate as much authority and responsibility as circumstances allow
Provide feedback on performance in a manner that fits the employee

Envision Success

Seek stability in strategic goals
Insist on high standards
Treat mediocrity like poison

An 'Honesty Imperative' Changed My Business Life

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:21 GMT

Dick Wittman

Producer and farm finance consultant

<< At home in Culdesac, Idaho, Dick Wittman manages a 19,000-acre dryland crop, cattle and timber operation with three family partners. He also provides seminars, workshops and private consulting services on a part-time basis to agricultural lenders and farmers. He has served as president of the Farm Financial Standards Council and is a founding member of the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association. Wittman and his wife, Dawn, have raised five children. The Wittman family sponsors an Outdoor Education Camp located on their farm in cooperation with the local Boys and Girls Club.

Read about his best business mistake below.

Before I came back to the family farm, I spent eight years working for the Farm Credit System. I held positions in accounting, large loan approvals and credit reviews, and ended up at Farm Credit in Washington, D.C., supervising operations in 17 states. Having supervisory responsibility for bank presidents twice my age was a recipe for disaster! Many grumbled about working with me, especially those with performance problems. Finally, a supervisor took me aside, saying: “You suffer from a disease known as the ‘honesty imperative’—a tendency to say it like it is without understanding peoples’ personalities and strategizing more tactful ways to deliver criticism.”

That supervisor sent me to a three-day training on interpersonal relationships. It changed my life. One of my biggest career mistakes was failing to understand how personalities need to be managed.

To this day, I credit the learning experiences related to “mismanaging” people as a part of our farm success. I now work with three farm partners and 10 other employees, some of whom are family. I encourage other partners and employees to do personality testing. This helps us understand how best to work with each other and helps take the emotion out of communications.

For example, I’m a “D”, which stands for “Driver” or “Dominant,” and I tend to push my agenda without listening. Now when we have disputes, others can say, “Dick, you are being a ‘D’ today,” and I know what that means without being upset. I still have lapses in remembering how important this is, but changing the way I talk to one person can make all the difference between success and failure that day.

Hire on the Safe Side

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:52 GMT

Singer Farms was audited for its hiring practices in July 2009. The visit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was no walk in the park, but Singer passed inspection because its I-9 forms were in order.

ICE officials “showed up at our door and asked for all of our I-9 forms pertaining to current employees and anybody who had worked for us the previous two years,” recalls Jim Bittner, a partner on a 500-acre tree fruit farm in Appleton, N.Y. “I had 88 forms, and they found only five where names and Social Security numbers didn’t match. Those five people hadn’t worked for me in more than a year,” he says.

ICE agents did find approximately 30 small technical errors—simple mistakes, such as blanks left unfilled, maiden names not changed to married names and forms that had taken longer than the maximum three days from date of employment for completion. Farm management was allowed to correct these minor errors with no fines levied, and business continued as usual.

Bittner and others in agriculture believe their area of Upstate New York is under particular scrutiny because it lies on the border with Canada, so U.S. Border Patrol forces are present along with ICE. “Helicopters are regularly flying over my place,” he says.

I-9 is King. “The I-9 is the law of the land, and you’d better be taking it seriously,” says Bittner, who is also a former president of the New York State Horticultural Society. “We follow the manual (M-274) for the I-9 to the letter, so we came out OK. I would think the average farm wouldn’t fare so well.”

It isn’t difficult to find examples of businesses that didn’t fare so well. Visits by ICE frequently result in workers being fired and owners penalized, no matter whether the businesses are related to agriculture. Brett Dreyer, worksite enforcement chief for ICE, says the agency’s two priorities for investigations are critical security areas, such as airports and nuclear power plants, and egregious employers.

“We don’t investigate based solely on the type of industry,” Dreyer asserts. This differs from the tactics of ICE’s predecessor, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was dissolved in 2003 and targeted specific business sectors believed more likely to hire illegal immigrants.

“Now our investigations are based on intelligence information,” Dreyer says. This can come from other agencies and sources, including employees and former employees. Yet, “the reality is that certain industries are more likely to have unauthorized workers,” Dreyer says.

ICE believes there are about eight million unauthorized workers in all industries in the U.S. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) estimates that about half of the million or so workers employed by agriculture are undocumented. AFBF says the problem won’t be solved until meaningful immigration reform comes along, creating a dependable workforce for farmers and ranchers.

Dreyer says a business’ size or the number of people it hires has no bearing on whether it is investigated. “Constructive knowledge” is important to an investigation.

“We understand an employer is not a document expert,” Dreyer says. “If a document appears to be genuine and the employer appears to be acting in good faith, he isn’t likely to be fined.”

How to Verify. ICE recommends that employers use its IMAGE program, which provides education and training in hiring. IMAGE requires the use of E-Verify, an employment verification program.

“If someone says they want a job and they present documents, I as an employer am not allowed to question those documents if they appear genuine,” says Paul Schlegel, director of public policy for AFBF.

An employer must balance the need for proper papers with the need to not discriminate. “An
employer cannot specify what documents a prospective employee must present,” Dreyer says. Those are noted on the back of the I-9 form.

“Employers can be fined for over-verifying or re-verifying when not required,” says Jenifer Brown,
an attorney practicing immigration law with Ice Miller LLP, a firm based in Indianapolis. Employers sometimes ask Brown’s advice when they’ve discovered they have hired an illegal immigrant.

“The first question I ask is, how do you know?” Brown says. “We want to be sure we’re not doing
anything discriminatory or perceived as such. When you find out for sure that an employee is not
authorized for employment, you have to terminate them; your choices are very limited.”

Brown tells her clients to conduct internal audits of their I-9 files to be certain all information is in order.

“Part of the effort on I-9 compliance should be making sure that immigration status of an employee is not discussed,” Brown says. “We’re in compliance by properly and thoroughly
completing the I-9 form. If a supervisor has information that may rise to actual or constructive knowledge that an employee is illegal, he or she is obligated to inform management immediately.”

Tips to Avoid an ICE Audit

New York orchard partner Jim Bittner is even more cautious now that he’s been through an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audit. Here is his advice for avoiding hiring hassles:

Be even more meticulous about following the rules. “Now I’m much more particular about making sure every box is checked and all dates are correct,” Bittner says. “When you hire somebody, their I-9 has to be completed within three days.”
Have one person, such as an office manager, fill out all the forms for consistency. Doing so increases the chance that all new hires are treated the same and there is less chance of a discrimination claim.
Store I-9 forms separately from other employment records. “You only want to give ICE what they’re asking for, which is the I-9 form,” Bittner says.
Purge files of older, outdated forms. Current rules state that the I-9 must be kept on all current employees. For terminated employees, employers must retain the I-9 file for three years after they are hired or for one year after they leave employment, whichever is later. “Why give ICE more paperwork than they ask for?” Bittner says.
Urge other agriculture operations to take compliance seriously. “It’s the same law for everybody,” Bittner says. “Don’t assume because you’re big or small, out in the open or on a back road that you’ll be treated differently.”

Ken Ferrie Guides You Through the Nitrogen Cycle

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:56:48 GMT

The Systems Approach can help you take your corn yields to the next level. In episode 6 of Corn College TV Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie explains how understanding the nitrogen cycle is a key to adopting the Systems Approach.

“The more a farmer understands about the nitrogen cycle the less trouble we can get into out in the field,” he says. “It’s especially important to know and understand nitrogen loss.”

There are three ways to lose nitrogen:

· Leaching

· Denitrification

· Volatization

Ferrie notes that an important source of nitrogen for the corn plant is the soil itself.

“Between 3,000 to 6,000 lb. of inorganic nitrogen can be available in the soil and can be used to help grow the crop,” he says. “30 % to 70% of nitrogen we need to grow the crop can come from the soil when the nitrogen cycle is able to work very efficiently.”

Ferrie explains that part of why farmers apply nitrogen is to stimulate the soil microbes to help with that process. The soil microbes immobilize N and then it’s mineralized back in the field.

One way to ensure that the nitrogen cycle is able to conduct itself efficiently is to maintain proper soil pH because the microbes have a narrow pH window they work in.

Ferrie warns that immobilization is a factor in all production rotations, but it’s especially important to understand the relationship between carbon and nitrogen in corn-on-corn.

Learn more in Episode 6 of Corn College TV.

Join Farm Journal to Take Your Wheat Yields to the Next Level

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:56:59 GMT

Building on its series of agronomic training events, Farm Journal is hosting the first-ever Wheat College.

On Tuesday, Feb. 1 in Wichita, Kan. and on Thursday, Feb. 3, in Fargo N.D., the seminar will be presented by Farm Journal Associate Field Agronomist Missy Bauer, who will be joined by high-yield wheat expert and Farm Journal columnist Phil Needham.
“Wheat responds when farmers fine-tune their management,” explains Bauer. “In this seminar we’ll give farmers tips they can take directly to the field using the Systems Approach to take yields to the next level.”
Wheat College is in response to farmer requests for training on the fundamentals for high yields in wheat. All topics will be tailored to match the geographic areas of the meetings.
“I’ve worked with many growers all across wheat country, and I’ll help the growers in this region of the Wheat Belt eliminate many of the weaknesses within their production systems to create high yield potential from the very start,” Needham says. “The bottom line is profit, so I will share insights and research to help producers produce the best return on their investment.”
The topics will include: Growth and Development; Stand Evaluation and Plant Health; Nitrogen Application and the Keys for Timing and Rates; Nitrogen Application Forms and Stabilizers; and Yield Threats with Scouting Procedures. The curriculum will also include bonus corn content.
A tentative agenda is available here.
To register, visit www.FarmJournalCornCollege.com or call 515-254-0289.

Making the Next Management Step

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:57 GMT

Farmers looking to grow their acreage are not uncommon. Those who are willing to do what it takes to get there, however, is another matter altogether, says Allen Lash, CEO of Family Farms LLC.

Lash, who presented at this week’s Top Producer Seminar on Thursday morning, says there are four basic principles farmers should embrace if they want to break through a management level that allows their farms to grow. For a typical Midwest corn and soybean operation, that is at an acreage level of 10,000 acres.

The four factors are:
· Organization Success
· Entity Structure Issues
· Capital Access
· Control Systems

Organization Structure. Developing a management attitude is often the most difficult task for many farmers to embrace. Why? Most farmers are used to doing the tasks of farming and not managing the people who do these tasks.

“This is not unique to agriculture,” Lash says. “It’s any business. And it’s not about managing the task doers, it’s about managing the people who manage the task doers.”

Those who don’t want to move to that level are often faced with hitting what Lash calls a glass ceiling on farm size. Delegating tasks to employees makes it possible for farmers to develop a sound entity structure.

Entity Structure Issues. Businesses need to consolidate their entities and coordinate activities across their entities.

Capital Access. As farms grow larger, financial partners must be evaluated and come to the realization that the same financial partners may not fit the needs of larger operations. At the same time, the information farms provide to these financial partners may not be adequate anymore. With higher financial requirements, the more information your financial health will be required.

Control Systems. This is a major concern for many farmers who grow to the point where they aren’t the task doers. By giving up the day-to-day work, they are losing control of the factors that drove them to their original success.

“You maintain the control by setting expectations and making sure there is follow up. People will do what you inspect, not what you expect.”