A family farm often involves the whole family working together – one family member might be best suited to handling tractors and machinery, another to building farm infrastructure, and others might prefer making sales or managing the farm office. Even the kids probably pitch in to make hay or feed animals.
At a certain scale, however, many farms will need to hire at least one employee either year-round or during the busiest part of the season. Hired help can give family members a much-needed break, bring some outside energy and perspective to the farm, and handle more routine tasks so the family members have a chance to make important upper-level decisions. Hiring a farm hand (or a whole crew) does come with some extra responsibility, so farm families should be sure they know what to expect.
-Payroll, Legal Considerations, and Taxes: Some farms handle finances and record-keeping somewhat casually, but once it’s time to officially hire a farm employee, farmers need to make sure they submit the right paperwork to the state and federal government, manage payroll correctly, and pay taxes on time. It can be complicated, so many farm businesses use an outside service to handle payroll and taxes.
-Good Employees: It can be hard to find good, reliable help for the family farm, so a farm business should do everything possible to attract and keep good farm employees. This might mean offering housing as part of their compensation, paying competitive wages, offering equity in the business after a certain length of employment, and/or ensuring that the employee has work throughout the year. Before beginning the search for a farm hand, the farm family should consider ways to keep their employee occupied year round. Can they care for animals and do equipment repairs over the winter? Manage the property while the family travels? Work in a family member’s off-farm business during slow periods? Making a commitment to an employee will help the farm keep good help on hand.
-Sharing the Farm Hand: A family farm has a lot going on at once, and many family members might want to use a farm hand’s time. Conflict can erupt if family members haven’t agreed in advance on what skills a hired hand should have and who will need assistance at certain times. If one family member needs help herding animals and another wants an assistant at harvest time, make a schedule before hiring to make sure there’s a way for everyone to get help.
Hiring employees is a big step in a business’s growth and should be taken seriously – with good planning, hired help on the family farm can be a great boost. For more information about farm business management and succession planning, contact AgriLegacy.
