Addressing Labor Challenges Together

Aug 18, 2021

By Jeremy Jubenville and Florencia Colella

Ask any agricultural employer in Michigan to list their biggest concerns and there's a good chance labor ranks near the top. Attracting and retaining employees has long been a challenge for the food and agriculture industry. In an effort to address this issue, a multi-organizational team led by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) has developed an Employer Hiring Needs survey to gain insight into the current hiring practices of food and agricultural employers. The team, which includes colleagues from MDARD, Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan State University, Michigan State University Extension, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and Michigan Works!, will use this insight to identify trends and develop recruiting and retention suggestions for Michigan's food and agricultural business sector.

Click for Food and Agriculture Employer Hiring Needs Form

Are you an employer in the food and agriculture sector? Please help our efforts to assist the industry in breaking out of a seemingly never-ending state of labor shortage by filling out the form and sharing it with other employers.

The Employer Needs Form gathers basic information, such as:

Size of organization
Benefits and compensation
Top hiring positions
Peak hiring months
Job promotion practices
Partner organizations
Training programs

It has 17 questions and should take about 10 minutes or less to complete.

Participation is voluntary and information gathered will remain confidential.

Source : msu.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.