1. Home
2. Conferences
3. 2019 Extension Risk Management Education National Conference

Regional Workshops to Improve Missouri's Farm Labor Management

Wesley Tucker

Summary

Through multiple needs assessments, Missouri producers indicated that finding and keeping good employees is their top business challenge. In recent years, Missouri farmers have scaled their operations and added employees without formalizing their farms’ human resource functions. This project aimed to help farms compete in today’s tight labor market and understand the complex labor compliance environment.

University of Missouri Extension developed and delivered regional, in-person farm labor management workshops to help producers reduce human and legal risks by improving their human resource management skills and compliance. By learning how to better recruit, manage and retain employees and navigate personnel-related regulations and liabilities, participants gained tools necessary for sustaining their farms’ viability. Workshop topics included workforce trends, effective supervision and communication, recruitment, training, state and federal regulatory compliance and recordkeeping.

In addition, the projected updated the 46 page, Missouri Farm Labor Guide, which includes resources, templates and checklists on farm labor management. Each participant received a copy and the manual is available on our website and serves as a valuable resource for producers throughout the state.

Details

---