By Kayla Williams
Kayla Williams is a Farmer Services Coordinator at Georgia Organics.
Aluma Farm staff harvesting together. Photo credit Bailey Garrot. (photo taken pre-pandemic)
Running a farm business requires more than just an ability to grow food. If you want to create a business that requires employees, you suddenly jump into managing people, payroll, and human resources. Managing employees can be overwhelming, from training people to fit into your systems to fitting them into the social fabric of your farm. Paul and Lindsey Sorah along with Mark Golden, co-owners/operators of Hearts of Harvest farm in Arnoldsville, GA, have prioritized employee management over the past three years of running their mixed fruit & vegetable, cut flower and mushroom operation.
Paul and Lindsey Sorah of Hearts of Harvest Farm. Courtesy of Hearts of Harvest Farm.
On Wednesday February 3, Paul shared some of his best practices for employee management and retention on a Good Food For Thought webinar.
The conversation focused on the importance of communicating with your employees – not only do folks have different learning styles and may need to be given directions through multiple different mediums. For example, if you are trying to train three employees on how to wash and pack for market, one may synthesize that information best through demonstration, another may want the process to be written down, and someone else may appreciate being told through conversation.
Giving context to why you are doing what you are doing also can help folks process and internalize material. Paul begins each morning with tasks for the day written on the whiteboard, so all of the employees are on the same page about what the plans are – giving folks their tasks in advance rather than one at a time both allows the employees to manage their time and feel a sense of investment in the day. He has regular check ins with his staff – making sure they know that they can feel comfortable and empowered to give him feedback and lets them know that he cares about their experience working for him.
Mark Golden of Hearts of Harvest Farm harvesting broccoli. Photo credit Bailey Garrot. (photo taken pre-pandemic)
When looking for employees, Paul emphasizes that “good vibes” is just as if not more important than having a lot of farm experience. Farming is an incredibly intimate job – from long hard days to deep conversations in the field, you want your employees to mesh with each other and with you. Hearts of Harvest gives new hires a 30-day trial period to figure out if they are a good fit – most folks have ended up staying, but some new hires spend two weeks and realize it’s not working for them.
Paul also recommended some “low to no cost morale boosters” regularly expressing gratitude for staff, hosting regular team potlucks, buying staff lunch on a particularly hard day, giving birthday cards. His staff also gets paid time off and flexibility around the holidays.
It’s all of these practices and more that encourages Heart of Harvests’ employees to come back for multiple seasons.
To support Hearts of Harvest Farm visit their website here, and follow them on Instagram @heartsofharvestfarm and at www.facebook.com/heartsofharvestfarm.
Our Good Food for Thought Winter Webinar for farmers series continues, learn more and register at gfft.georgiaorganics.org/virtual-events.