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Good to Great in Ag Labor Management: helping NYS growers become better people managers

Elizabeth Higgins and Bonnie Collins

Summary

In 2016 Cornell Cooperative Extension educators identified that there was a lack of training programs for farm owners and managers who wanted to become more effective managers of employees. Most ag labor programs focused on labor regulation compliance or farm safety. With a grant from NERME “Good to Great in Ag Labor Management” and a later grant from USDA BFRDP we have provided educational trainings targeted to farm owners and farm managers in New York State. About 90 farmers in NYS have gone through multi-day in-person labor management trainings in NYS since 2017. The trainings covered workplace environment and policies, managing conflict and communications, and training, evaluating and motivating employees. Follow-up surveys of session participants from the workshops showed a high level of adoption of practices from the classes and strong interest in improving “soft skills” like communication, working with a diverse workforce, motivating employees and leadership. The programs have been particularly well received by next-gen farmers, beginning farmers and farm managers. This presentation will cover the resources developed by the Good to Great Team (Elizabeth Higgins and Bonnie Collins) as well as information from follow up grower surveys and program evaluations.

Details

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