Employment deployment

Studying employment practices on farms will allow for the development of tailored support and training, helping farmers offer more attractive employment opportunities.

Like many economic sectors today, agriculture is in the middle of a perfect storm; demand for additional people to work on farms is increasing, while the availability of people to work on farms is declining.

The shortage of people is most pronounced in springtime, as the seasonal workload of pasture-based milk production systems results in a higher demand for seasonal and part-time labour. Despite the high demand for skilled workers, dairy farmers face competition for labour from other sectors. In the last decade, structural changes on dairy farms – most notably the increase in average herd size from 52 to 93 cows per farm – have created unprecedented demand for additional people external to the family unit. In turn, this has led to many Irish dairy farmers becoming employers for the first time.

With these challenges in mind, effective people management is becoming increasingly important on dairy farms. Previous research indicates that many farmers struggle to develop key employer skills as management traditionally focused on the technical aspects of farming. The human capital needs of Ireland’s dairy sector have evolved, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the 2018 ‘People in Dairy’ Action Plan identified the need to enhance farmers’ skills as employers to attract and retain people within the sector. 

Despite the importance of effective people management, there is a lack of data regarding the employment practices being implemented by Irish dairy farmers and how farmers perceive their training needs as employers. Research at Teagasc Moorepark’s Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre aims to tackle this data gap.

Not just a formality

Survey data from 203 dairy farmer employers were analysed to examine the variation in employment practices and the influence of farm characteristics, farmer demographics and farmer attitudes on practices such as recruitment, compliance with employment legislation, health and safety and staff retention. Thomas Lawton, a PhD Researcher at Teagasc Moorepark and one of the study’s authors, explains: “The study found a low level of adoption of employment practices generally, and across all farm sizes, there is significant scope for improvement in all aspects of employment. Herd size and the number of employees on the farm influenced the adoption of employment practices, while farmers’ level of education and experience as an employee were positively correlated with compliance with employment legislation, health and safety and retention practices.”

Farmers with more employees and larger herds are more likely to comply with employment and health and safety legislation and adopt formal recruitment and retention practices, whereas farmers with smaller herd sizes tend to rely on informal management approaches.

On the farms surveyed, 14% of all people employed were family members, with 77% employed as assistants or relief milkers and 62% to part-time positions. Consequently, there may be a greater reliance on informal practices on farms with part-time or relief milking roles rather than full-time employment positions.

“At the same time, however, it is widely recognised that the formalisation of employment practices will assist farmers in meeting their legal requirements as employers.” notes Thomas. “In conjunction with this, such formalisation should also improve work organisation and labour efficiency on farms.” 

The education effect

The study also examined how dairy farmers perceive the evolution of their training needs as their farm businesses grow and they further inhabit the role of employer. Alongside number of people employed on a farm, the study found that farmer education level strongly influenced training requirements.

The study findings suggest that farmers with more formal education are more inclined to engage with opportunities for learning than those with low levels of formal education. Although the level of interest in employment topics increased as the number of people working on farm increased, all farmers require some level of employer skills.

“For example, owner-operator businesses are already managing and interacting with a number of people such as family members, relief and part-time workers and agricultural contractors,” Thomas explains.

“Taking on the employer’s role means being subject to both formal statutory obligations and regulations governing wages and health and safety, in addition to other aspects of working conditions.

“Numerous studies show that farmers trained in effective employment practices are better equipped to become employers of choice with greater prospects for attracting and retaining high-skilled employees.”

Specific employment training for dairy farmer employers is being provided through the People Management courses being delivered by Teagasc and industry specialists.

Setting a benchmark

“This study provided a useful entry point for understanding employment practices implemented within the context of Irish dairy farms, providing a baseline that can be used in future to benchmark progress in the area,” concludes Thomas. 

“Additionally, the study highlighted that many farmers, particularly those new to or inexperienced in employing people, were struggling with employment basics such as complying with employment legislation and recruiting employees. Many of the farmers surveyed were in the early stages of employing people on farm and had no training regarding employment practices.”

Funding 

This project is funded by Teagasc’s Walsh Scholarship Programme and Dairy Research Ireland.

Contributors

Marion Beecher, Research Officer, AGRIC, Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy. marion.beecher@teagasc.ie 

Thomas Lawton, Teagasc Walsh Scholar (PhD) ,AGRIC, Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy.

This article was first published in TResearch. Read more from TResearch