[Market-farming] Wages

Andy Fellenz fellenz at fltg.net
Wed Mar 25 07:44:02 EDT 2009


Allan,

It sounds like you have a nice system, especially with the bonuses and 
insurance.  I'm not sure what your local labor market is like, but one 
thing you may want to consider doing is networking with local community 
colleges, especially if they have ag or horticulture to get some people. 

Just to give you an idea of scale and what I am doing, for the last few 
years I have been farming 5 acres of mixed vegetables and fruit 
including ~10,000 sqft of hoophouse production, with a February - 
November work season.  I flex the number of employees and hours through 
out the season depending upon available work and have also utilized 
employees on farm construction projects (when they have the appropriate 
skills) in addition to doing farm work.  I usually have 3-4 p/t (max ~35 
hours/week) employees on site during the main season and will need to 
hire 5-7 people each season to maintain this level of staffing.  My full 
cost/hour for employees is >$11/hour once you figure in taxes, workmans 
comp, disability and insurance.  Most employees start at $7.50/hr and 
get raises as their skill/effectiveness increases.  Some crew members 
come back each season, including one who is returning for his fourth 
season this year.  For most though, my expectation is that I will get 
one or possibly two seasons before they move on. 

Since I am fishing in the shallow end of the pond, I have had to 
significantly adjust my expectations regarding promptness compared to 
what I looked for in an industrial setting.  To this end, I have set up 
work practices on the farm so that people usually start the day on 
single person tasks - gathering tools and setting up for a group task, 
opening up greenhouses or hoophouses, small area weeding, etc... before 
moving on to group work.  It also helps that until last year everything 
was done on site.  Now that I have some ground ~1 1/2 miles from the 
farm that I am working, I will need to make additional changes to my 
system to make working there effective. 

I wouldn't say that I have great employees (I hope none of them take 
offense if they read this), but I do have good employees who since I 
have tweaked my system to meet their abilities/behaviors, can get the 
job done.  Most of my employees come to me through either a local 
community college which has a horticulture and conservation program or 
from referrals from current employees.  Two of the professors there know 
me and have helped in recruiting employees.   For piece rate pickers, my 
wife puts together a list of ~20 kids each season and we work through 
the list to get the people we need on each picking day.  We usually have 
a maximum of 8 pickers a day and will go through the entire list of 20 
to get the pickers we need.  A lot of the kids come with a dollar target 
in mind - they need X in order to buy something and they work until they 
achieve the goal and then they are done. 


Andy

Allan Balliett wrote:
> Andy - I'm currently working with a 'bonus' system that pays a $2 an 
> hour bonus every time 40 hours are completed without a tardy or an 
> absence. It makes for a pretty solid monthly check, if you can come 
> to work on time.  We offer insurance, as well. It is hard for me to 
> understand how you could give up your time to wait for the arrival 
> for a tardy person, though. I assume that you are not as diversified 
> as we are.
>
> What sort of wages are you paying that allows you to acquire quality workers?
>
> To tell you the truth, I haven't noticed any difference in what we 
> pay and it's that fact that has caused me to look for the lowest 
> possible wage and/or to work with a bonus system rather than a wage 
> system.
>
> Thanks for your ideas and experiences.
>
> -Allan in WV
>
>   
>> You need to start fishing in a different part of the wage pool.  If you
>> pay junk, that's what you'll get.  In a previous career I was involved
>> in hiring and managing hourly employees for factory work and always
>> found that by going a few dollars an hour above the local prevailing
>> wage I would gain access to a much higher quality employee.   If you
>> can't afford to pay a higher wage, you need to look at what you can do
>> to make your farm a preferred work place.
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
> Market-farming mailing list
> Market-farming at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>
>
>
>   


More information about the Market-farming mailing list