Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 70: Let's Talk Ag Labor – Development, Retention, H-2A

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70: Let's Talk Ag Labor – Development, Retention, H-2A · CattleUSA Daily

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  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
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  updates shaping agriculture today.
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  I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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  agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
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  Now let's dive into today's episode.
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  Hey y'all, welcome to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily
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  podcast. Happy Tuesday.
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  Today we are going to be talking about labor and what labor looks
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  like currently in the ag industry and some things that we
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  can be doing as producers to not only bring in new labor but also
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  retain the labor that we currently have.
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  I am a big believer that you cannot grow a cattle business
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  without people, but finding and keeping that good help, that's
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  where we are seeing a bottleneck of a ton of operations.
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  So labor is truly just one of the biggest threats that we're
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  seeing to have production AG right now.
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  And as producers, we need to be figuring out ways that we can
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  continue to evolve and grow as leaders in the industry, but
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  then also as people who are standing up for labor shortages.
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  And what that looks like for us as an industry, because the
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  consensus of it at the end of the day, we don't have an
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  industry if we don't have people working and able to work.
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  So first and foremost, where do we stand?
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  What what is the problem? Where are we looking at?
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  Here's the thing, hiring is hard, but retention is even
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  harder. So from feed yards to on ranch
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  workers, just at the end of the day, anything that's involved in
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  AG throughout the entire life process of these cattle, right?
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  So from on the ranch to those feed yards to the packing
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  plants, we are seeing every sector stretched extremely thin.
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  So the workforce in with this stretching of the like, with
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  this stretching of the workforce and being stretched thin, the
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  workforce isn't just aging, which we are seeing.
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  We are seeing an ageing workforce.
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  It's also just disappearing. And the reality of it is there's
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  no Calvary coming unless we start to build it.
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  So here's some of the consequences that producers are
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  living with, right? We're seeing overworked teams
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  and those overworked teams then lead to sloppy mistakes,
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  burnout, missed margins, all of those things like that.
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  Then animal care starts to suffer efficiency tanks, and we
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  just see an overall morale drop. Like if we're being real, if
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  you're overworked, you're not really having fun at your job,
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  right? And so when we're seeing all of
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  these operations are stalling out and shrinking, and when you
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  don't have the people to sustain it or scale, what are you
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  supposed to be doing, right? So what is causing it?
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  Here's some things that are causing it.
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  Really quick fire pay pressure. We're seeing wages are rising
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  and not every operation can compete.
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  Housing and logistics, you can't hire help if you can't house
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  them. And that's whether you're doing
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  on ranch housing or whether you're trying to find housing in
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  rural communities. That's an issue on both aspects,
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  right? Then we're seeing an image
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  problem. AG jobs are branded as
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  undesirable, and that is honestly just on us to rewrite
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  as agriculturalist. We have a mess, absolute mess
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  with immigration and H2A labor reform.
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  So we're seeing H2A is it's just limited and inconsistent.
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  And then year round help, yeah, that's non existent under
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  current law. So just a mess with all of that.
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  And then we're also just seeing a disconnected culture.
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  So fewer young people even knowing that careers in AG exist
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  if they didn't grow up in it themselves.
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  So what can we be doing? That is the whole point of this
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  episode is I want to be talking about what we can be doing as
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  agriculturalist. And if you are watching on
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  YouTube, this fly is a paid actor.
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  I am so happy that it is warm out, but Oh my gosh, I hate
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  flies. Sorry, any.
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  So what can we be doing? Here are some things that I want
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  to encourage you guys as agriculturalist that you can
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  start showing up in your communities and really start
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  doing for this labor shortage. So first and foremost, build
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  your own labor pipeline. What this can look like is
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  partnering with local schools, FFA's, AG programs, hosting
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  jobs, shadow days, things like this where you are hiring high
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  school or college aged help during peak season and you're
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  training them early, right? So you're training them early
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  and you're putting a lot of effort into training them how to
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  do these jobs with the hope that they are going to stay in your
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  pipeline, right? So you're hiring them for lower
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  paying, easier jobs that they can do while they're in high
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  school or in college and then training them to training them
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  and involving them to grow into a bigger, more permanent
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  position, right. So I really encourage this,
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  you're going to find a lot of high school kids that just need
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  5-10 hours a week of something to do either after school or on
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  the weekends or especially during summer, just finding
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  someone that can start coming in.
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  And a lot of these kids have a really great work ethic.
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  And so I highly, highly recommend partnering with your
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  local schools. Get in touch with your FFA
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  advisors, just different. You can even get in touch with
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  your extension offices, try and find help there.
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  But really building your own pipeline is a great place to
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  start. Next I want to talk about
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  retention over recruitment. OK, you've got people right?
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  But you need to be able to keep them at the end of the day, so
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  good help stays when they are respected.
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  So as a boss, are you leading well?
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  Are you offering growth with corals responsibility and fair
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  pay whenever possible With this, I want you to be focusing on the
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  simple wins. Retaining employment employees
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  doesn't always mean that you have to have this big clear,
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  amazing plan perfectly lined out career path for them.
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  No, sometimes that's just finding the simple wins.
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  So for some of you, it may be that you're doing team breakfast
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  every single morning. You're providing breakfast at
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  the main office and you are doing team breakfast and it just
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  helps build morale and get people together.
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  Maybe you are making sure that work schedules are out way in
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  advance. You are doing birthday checks.
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  You're doing like the little things that don't seem like they
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  might be a lot, but at the end of the day it is making your
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  employees feel seen and heard and cared about.
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  The small things matter with retention.
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  Just really remember that the small things matter.
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  Care about your employees. I said this a few weeks ago, but
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  I was gone in DC in March and my employee Ally, did an amazing,
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  phenomenal job at keeping the wheels turning while I was gone.
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  Because the reality of it was I was way busier in DC than I
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  thought I was going to be. And so there were a lot of
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  things and projects that I had every intention of working on
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  while I was there, but was unable to.
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  And so during that, she picked up where I left off and just did
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  an amazing job. And so a couple times during
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  that week, I sent her a gift card for some coffee and said
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  coffee on me. Thank you so much for your hard
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  work. And that is a situation where
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  it's like the small things. It cost me $5 to do that in 30
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  seconds of my time to send her that, but it meant the world to
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  her. So where can you find small
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  things that can add up to big things with in retention?
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  Now I want you to rethink structure.
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  And when I say this, I want you to remember to have like an open
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  mind with this, OK? Right.
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  So I want you to shift from the idea of warm bodies to skilled
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  workers. At the end of the day, fewer
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  good people way outweighs lots of turnover, right?
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  So shifting from, hey, we just need a warm body here.
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  And that warm body isn't seen or cared about, or you don't have a
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  ton of input into them, right? And change that into if you have
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  5 good workers that can do the work of 30 people, then that's
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  way better. But when I say this, I also
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  don't mean that you're not paying these fewer good workers
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  to do the work of 30 people. Does that make sense?
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  So you're not still paying them $15.00 an hour, but they're
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  doing the work of five people, right?
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  That goes back to retention. Really caring about your people
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  putting in the money is a big part of it.
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  I think that that's not something that I really
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  discussed a lot on this episode is pay, but pay your employees
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  well. Like we can't keep paying people
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  $1012.00 an hour and expect them to be doing the jobs that we're
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  asking them to do, right? OK.
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  Next, I want you to be leaning into smart technology.
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  So invest in labor saving tools where it makes sense.
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  So keep tech simple. It should support, not replace.
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  So this really leans into that thing that I was just talking
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  about before, right, on the rethinking of structure.
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  Having good technology to help support really good employees is
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  absolutely a win when it comes to labor.
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  Next, I want you to explore legal labor options.
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  So this means researching H2A and partnering with agencies who
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  really understand the red tape. An emphasis, emphasis, emphasis
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  on pairing with those agencies that understand the red tape
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  because it is a mess out there. It absolutely is.
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  But when you can get good H2A employees that can come back
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  year after year after year, it is unmatched.
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  We have had some amazing employees come through H2A
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  programs. Now, that does not say that it
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  does not come without it's red tape without a lot of the stuff
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  that just is not fun when dealing with that.
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  But it is so worth it if you partner with an agency and
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  people that really understand it and can help you succeed in that
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  area. Now this plays perfectly into my
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  last point and that is getting loud about policy.
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  I have shared it before. I could do an entire episode on
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  the BS of H2A and the BS of visas and labor and all of this
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  stuff that we have going on right now for hours.
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  Like I I could talk about it for hours.
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  I want you to be calling your representatives and I want you
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  to be asking about year round visa reform.
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  Those. I genuinely think that if we can
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  get reform in the year round visas and then we need a true
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  path to citizenship for H2A employees and for people on
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  visas, right? We need a true path to
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  citizenship and we need that year round visa reform.
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  If we can get those two things, we will solve a lot of problems
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  in AG. Now it is not that simple.
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  Those are two sentences that yes, I would love for those to
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  happen. At the end of the day, I
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  acknowledge that it's not that simple and I fully understand
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  where everyone is coming from in their really strong beliefs and
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  thoughts around immigration and all of that jazz.
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  But at the end of the day, we need workers.
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  We need people that are able to work and be here and willing and
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  able to do these jobs that we are asking them to do.
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  And so I really, really, really encourage all of you to just
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  acknowledge that there is an issue and then start calling
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  your representatives, just educating yourselves, ask about
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  that year round visa reform. I want you to join groups that
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  are advocating for realistic AG specific labor reform.
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  There are a lot of them out there, especially in the state
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  of Kansas where we have a lot of AG industry that is vitally,
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  vitally real, like we rely heavily on H2A employees and
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  people on visas. The next thing I want you to do
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  is really acknowledge that we're not going to get help if we're
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  not asking and if we're not showing up.
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  So it takes every single one of us involved in AG to be speaking
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  up, to be calling our representatives, to be asking
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  for help because at the end of the day, you can't change the
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  labor market overnight, but you can change how your operation
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  responds to it, right? So are you going to be that
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  person that is standing up and speaking out about labor reform
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  and speaking out about what we need in agriculture?
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  I really encourage you guys to build the team, create the
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  culture, and speak up at the end of the day, because no one is
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  coming to fix the problem unless we start doing it ourselves.
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  So those are kind of my thoughts on labor and what we're looking
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  at right now. But again, I really encourage
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  you guys to just become more educated on it, right?
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  Become more educated on what your county and state
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  regulations are on labor, what that looks like building your
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  own pipelines, really leaning into technology or whatever that
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  looks like for you and your operation.
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  As always, thank you guys so much for listening to another
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  episode of the Cattle USA Daily Podcast.
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  Make sure you like subscribe, rate, review all the things.
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  We really appreciate it and we will see you all tomorrow on
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  another episode. Have a good one.