Dairy farms must become sought-after places to work
A sustained multi-faceted campaign is needed to change the view of dairy farming from one of long hours, physically demanding work, and poor pay, to that of a modern, high-tech industry.
Teagasc has piloted a ‘Dairy Step Up’ initiative targeted at experienced dairy employees who are keen to take the step into owning their own farming business via partnerships, share farming, or leasing.
If Irish dairying wants to attract good people, it needs to have multiple pathways to allow someone become a dairy farmer.
Traditionally, only people born on farms considered a farming career, because inheriting land was seen as an essential requirement to becoming a farmer.
With collaborative farming models like partnerships, leasing and share farming, this is no longer the case.
These models need to be supported and examined to identify potential barriers which are limiting the progress of people working in collaborative farming models.
Along with these Stepping Up pathways to dairy farming, Stepping Back is also part of the People in Dairy Action Plan put together by the People in Dairy Stakeholder Group.
A Stepping Back programme is targeted at farmers who are planning to reduce their active role in dairy farming, who may or may not have a family successor.
This is also needed, according to the People in Dairy Stakeholder Group put in place by the agri-food sector, to develop a plan to address farm labour shortages for the dairy sector.
Succession planning
For Stepping Back, further improving farmer knowledge and skills around succession planning will ensure farmers are aware of the various options of continuing their business, even if they don’t have a successor within the family.
Succession is a very sensitive and personal subject, and leasing or joint ventures carry financial risk.
Thus, both of these routes require competent professional advice.
Given that about 4,000 dairy farmers are likely to retire, or at least step back from farming over the next eight years, more effort is needed in this area.
A co-ordinated campaign is required to better inform all concerned about the modes of entry and progression in the sector as well as modes of exit or retirement for older dairy farmers.
Helping older farmers to enter arrangements with younger farmers will help reduce isolation and health and safety risks in these farms.
More training must be provided to help aspiring farmers develop the considerable skills needed to successfully operate their own joint venture, said the Dairy Stakeholder Group.
The Group has also called for measures to ensure adequate availability of skilled farm operatives both seasonally and throughout the year.
It sees no single fix to this problem, but says a number of measures need to be further developed, including the national roll-out of the South East Regional Skills Forum/Farm Relief Service (FRS)/Teagasc/Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) initiative to other regions.
This initiative targets individuals on the live register, women in agriculture and dry stock farmers.
The group has also called for enhanced efforts to recruit labour from within the European Economic Area (EEA), where employment permits are not required.
Greater engagement with EURES, the European Employment Service, is also needed for attracting labour from the EEA market.
As part of the review of Ireland’s economic migration policy and associated managed employment permits system, the encouragement of a policy which would take greater account of the agri-food sector’s unique characteristics and requirements for labour, particularly seasonal labour, was called for.
The encouragement and facilitation of workers from New Zealand to work in Ireland for one or more periods is also recommended.
The People in Dairy Action Plan emphasises the need for labour efficient farms and employers with good human resources skills.
One of the biggest factors in attracting and retaining people is that dairy farms must be desirable places to work.
A new research and knowledge transfer programme focusing on making farms more labour efficient is required.
Aspects that require investigation include the application of new technology to reduce labour requirement on dairy farms, and the role of contracting to reduce the workload for those working on dairy farms.
The continued broad roll-out of ‘lean’ management principles on dairy farms will further enhance labour efficiency.
There has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the number of dairy farmers that are becoming employers, with 25% of Irish farmers now milking 100 cows or more.
These farmers in particular need to have the skills required to be good employers, as well as knowing how their farms should be best set up in order to be attractive places to work.
Consequently, information and training needs to be made available to farmers in relation to good human resources practice and legal requirements, good management practices, and having the right facilities for employees.
Stakeholders need to work together to agree a charter of what best practice employment on Irish farms looks like.
A Great Farm Workplaces programme is recommended to allow farmers get certified as meeting this standard.
These efforts will also contribute to making farms safer places to work.
The People in Dairy Stakeholder Group also looked at the need for new training and continuous professional development (CPD) programmes for dairy farmers and employees.
Every progressive industry needs to train and retrain people at all levels, and dairy farming is no different.
Entry level workers need dairy farming skills training, while farm managers and owners need training in cash flow planning, strategic planning, communication skills, time management, etc, as well as in technical farming skills.
The Teagasc booklet, Stepping Stone to a Career in Dairying, outlines a clear and consistent role expectation for both employers and employees in the four key on-farm role categories, which are: farm operative/assistant, herd manager, farm manager, and farm business owner (training needs of farm managers and owners are similar).
The efforts of different organisations in this area (Teagasc, Macra, FRS) need to be co-ordinated.
A comprehensive range of CPD courses needs to be developed and made widely available.
Such a programme will help retain existing people and attract new people, allowing them to work more efficiently and effectively and help to equip people with the skills to progress within the sector.
Promotion of dairying as an attractive career is also part of the People in Dairy Action Plan.
A sustained multi-faceted campaign is needed to change the perception of dairy farming from one of long hours, physically demanding work, and poor remuneration, to that of a modern, high- tech industry with career opportunities and advancement possibilities at many levels, embracing good working conditions, and with good earning potential for both employees and owners.
This is important in both the short and long term in order to attract new workers to the industry and to encourage greater succession rates among dairy farm families.
According to the People in Dairy Action Plan, it would involve an advertising campaign, strong social media activity, working with career guidance systems in schools and colleges, and possibly a competition to promote and highlight different career paths into the industry.
