A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 21,2002 Penn State Cooperative Extension Capitol Region Dairy Team FARM LABOR OPPORTUNITIES Philip E. Wagner Extension Agent Dairy Franklin County Several weeks ago I wrote a column article on labor manage ment. The purpose of this follow up article is to suggest ways of making hired and family labor a more profitable investment in your farm business. As the total traditional farm labor force continues to decrease, farm owners must develop more effective means of attracting and retaining agricultural employees. Solutions to most labor chal lenges require both economic and social adjustments. Suggested economic changes may require increased wages for labor, but equally effective social adjust ments may not cost a dime. Farmers must be willing and able to pay wages on a par with those of local industries, and not just the minimum industrial wage or those offered by other farmers. Farmers must develop highly efficient, profitable opera tions that can afford to pay in dustrial wages to their workers. Why not provide prospective and regular employees with an itemized statement of wages and cash deductions for fringe bene fits, housing and utility values, and othei noncash benefits? Then encourage employees to compare your wage package with the com petition. Farmers must give their employees a wage package com- Editor's note: This is a month ly column from the Pennsylvania Ay Statistics Service (PASS), a field office of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics ‘service (NASS) in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Ag riculture (PDA) The Website is www.usda.govlnassl \(i (1 NSLIS LNDFK WAY! The Ag Census has been mailed lo more than 91,000 ad dresses of potential gi oners acioss Pennsylvania and to more than 2.‘ ; million addresses na tionwide. Being a true "census," this pioject is onh done once every hvt \eais. You only have to produce $l,OOO worth ol agricultural products or keep only a few head of livestock or equine to count as a farm lor Census purposes. This includes small, part-time, and hobby farms. It is very important that Penn sylvania agriculture is properly measured by the 2002 U.S. Cen sus of Agriculture. In the past, other states have had a more' complete count and this can im pact decisions about agriculture Philip E. Wagner petitive with industry. Remember that it's the spendable income left after food, shelter, and job deduc tions are made that is important to your worker. If you’re competitive here, you don’t need to meet exactly indus tries' gross wage rate. You must, however, offer extra cash or other benefits to offset the value of ad ditional fringe benefits provided by your competitors. What about a cash bonus or other incentive plan for employ ees? Opinions are divided on these plans. Manageis have tried them with both good and bad re sults. Farmers should be dw'are NASS Agriculture Counts By Marc Tosiano Pa. State Statistician in Pennsylvania and across the Northeast. ‘lint I'm Not Farming' You may not consider yourself to be a “farmer,” but remember that agriculture goes beyond dairy, livestock, and field ciops. It includes other items such as greenhouse and nursery, fruits, vegetables, aquaculture, bees, Chnstmas trees, maple s> rup, lla mas, bison, mink, deer, game birds, worms, etc. If you think that you do not qualify as an agricultural opera tion. please call the toll-free num bei on the census form to ask if you should be counted. ‘But I’m Retired’ You may also considei yourself “retired” from farming. How ever. it is typical that retired farmers still produce agricultural products, but on a smaller scale than before. It could easily ex ceed $l,OOO of products that were sold or could have been sold which still qualifies you as a farm. ‘But 1 Have Too Many Forms’ In Pennsylvania, more than 91,000 forms will be mailed in an effort to account for about 60,000 JANUARY II JANUARY 25 lAN I JAR'i 25 FEBRUARY 7-9 PENNSYLVANIA JUNIOR HOLSTEIN CONVENT lON HOLIDAY INN, BETHLEHEM, PA FEBRUARY 19-21 PENNSYLVANIA HOLSTEIN CONVENTION HOLIDAY INN, BETHLEHEM. PA FEBRUARY 20 FEBRUARY 20 MARCH 17 MARCH 28 that a satisfactory plan is going to cost them moie than ordinary wages, but it us justified by an even greater increase in income. If incentive plans are new to you. discuss them with a farm management specialist or with a farmer who has a satisfactory plan in operation. Then decide if they will help your business. The additional returns, above the costs of a bonus plan, should ex ceed the net returns you would get from any alternative use of these same resources. The job a worker accepts is de termined by many things other than the cash value of his job package. The number of work hours during the week, whether the employee has time to himself (including a regular vacation plan), and other factors are con sidered by prospective employees. farms. We spent a lot of time to reduce the initial mailing list of potential farm from more than 120.000 names to more than 91.000 by removing as many du plicate names as we could find. However, some of you will still get more than one Census form for the same operation. The front page of the census form gives in structions on how to deal with multiple forms for the same oper ation. Briefly, you will be asked to complete one form and return it along with the other duplicate forms. I Didn't Get A Census Form If you are involved with agri culture and do not receive a cen sus by Januaiv 1, 2003, please call (888) 424-7828 to be sure you are counted. It's important for Pennsvl'ania that we count eveiy farm ol every size. Do I Hme To Send It Back? Everyone who receives an Ag Census form needs to complete it and send it back by Feb. 3 to avoid further mailings. If you are not farming, please complete it and send it back or you will get additional mailings as well. Since the Ag Census is re quired by law, we are required to contact you in person or more than the phone if we don’t get your completed form by mail. I know your time is valuable and we really don’t want to bather you at home. So, please complete and send the form back in a time ly fashion. 2003 PENNSYLVANIA HOLSTEIN ASSOCIATION CALENDAR OE EVENTS 11 00A M DAUPHIN COUNTY ANNUAL MEETING GEO S FAMILY RESTAURANT. HARRISBURG PA 11 50A M BRADFORD COUN TY ANNUAL. MEL I ING TROY FIRE HALL. TROY PA 7 30P M CLARION/VENANGO ANNUAL MELTING WOI F’S DF.N RESTAURANT, KNOX, PA 90 1 " ANNUAL MEETING, PA HOLSTLIN ASSOCIATION HOLIDAY INN, BETHLEHEM. PA 7 OOP M. PA HOLSTEIN CONVENTION SALE HOLIDAY INN, BETHLEHEM, PA 7 15PM BLAIR COUNTY ANNUAL MEETING WILLIAMSBURG FARM SHOW GROUNDS, WILLIAMSBURG, PA 9 30A.M PA HOLSTEIN SPRING SHOW FARM SHOW BUILDING. HARRISBURG, PA Pleasant physical working condi tions, modern equipment to work with, and satisfactory relations with other employees and man agement are all plus factors. Job security is extremely important. Important as money is, non cash social considerations involv ing the job and the surrounding community may finally de termine which job a worker will select. Farm managers who have minimized their labor problems recognize that the social climate in which their employees and families live and work is equally, if not more, important than the wages paid. Employers don’t always realize the skills they expect from their employees. Farmers sometimes hire unskilled workers and expect immediate skilled performance without providing any training Why Do A Census? It is important the we provide the facts about agriculture for each county and across Pennsyl vania so that rumors don’t influ ence important decisions that af fect growers. Extension depends on county statistics from the Census for the delivery of services to growers of all sizes. They also rely on census data to support their research for the benefit of growers. New growers, or those chang ing farm activities, can learn about agricultural production in their county to help decide what crops or livestock to raise. Grower associations and the Pennsylvania Department of Ag riculture use this information to define and promote Pennsylvania agriculture. L enders need this in formation to make tactual deci sions about loans to growers. Suppliers and buyers use agricul tural statistics to know where there is a need for their services or where to buy. Ag statistics were important to the development and implemen tation of crop insurance and the 2002 Farm Bill to provide finan cial assistance to growers who choose to use these programs. Finally, the Ag Census pro vides much county data that is only available once every five years. For some items in the Ag Census, this is the only time that farm demographics and minor commodities are measured such as goats, bison, llamas, many veg etables, nuts, some berries, pheas ants, etc. program. If you’re going to hire untrained help, make sure they are properly instructed and ade quately supervised during the training period. Don’t expect sat isfactory performance without training. While agriculture must com pete with industry for its labor supply, not all of this competition is economic. Fringe benefits, many of them socially oriented, must be equally attractive. When asked the secret of his successful labor management program, one Pennsylvania farmer said of his workers, “I give them good tools to work with. I show them what to do. I show them what we want to accomplish. I make sure we all have a good time doing it." Farm owners must realize that good labor management requires social and economic adjustments. Why Do I Get Other Suneys, l oo? All of the largest farms and a few smaller operations will get sampled surveys in addition to the Ag Census. These generate state and national statistics of ag ricultural production for 2002. It is reasonable for you to ask, “Why should I do both?” First, these usual year-end sur veys lead to published reports in January through April 2003. The Ag Census contacts so many peo ple that it takes a little more than a year before the Census can be properly processed and published in early 2004. Agriculture can’t wait that long for 2002 statistics. Second, this gives you more time to fill out the Ag Census form. The Census form is longer and contains questions about all agriculture on your operation. The year-end surveys are typical ly only one or two pages that deal only with one commodity or a group of related commodities. The end ol year surveys hap pening now through March in clude cattle, sheep, floriculture, bee and honey, and the quarterly Farm Labor survey. Thank You Remember, “Agriculture Counts” and we are counting on your response for an accurate Census. When you get the Ag Census form, please fill it out and return it right away to avoid ad ditional taxpayer cost of further mailings. Thank You!
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers