Dairy Streamlet: Workable Workforce Series: Recruiting and onboarding talent

The Dairy Streamlet is a new, condensed version of Dairy Stream that takes the long episode and covers just the high-level points of the conversation. If this topic interests you, listen to the full episode on May 3. 

Dairy Stream has dedicated the next four episodes to focus on an asset on your farm, your workforce. The four episodes of the Workable Workforce Series will cover recruiting, engaging, coaching and HR legal items. The series is sponsored by Syngenta and Compeer Financial.

In this first part of the series, Dairy Stream host Joanna Guza talked with HR professional Lori Culler and dairy farmer Laura Finger about the most critical step with developing your workforce. They cover how to recruit, select and onboard new employees.

Special thanks to Syngenta for sponsoring this episode.

About the guests

• Lori Culler is the founder of AgHires, an online job board and recruiting firm dedicated to the Agriculture, Horticulture, and Food Production industry. Lori grew up on her family's 3rd generation potato and grain farm operating today across four states. After graduating from the University of Toledo with a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management, she began working in recruiting and management consulting. While hiring for her family’s operation, she quickly realized the lack of resources in the industry to find and attract talent which inspired her to launch AgHires. 
• Laura Finger and her husband Phil are owner operators of Finger Family Farm in Oconto Wisconsin.  They are the 5th generation on their dairy that milks 540 cows, raises all their own replacements and farms 1800 acres.  Laura has a Dairy Science Degree from Iowa State University and uses both cow knowledge and evolved people skills to lead a team of 20 employees with a variety of backgrounds ranging from local people, high schoolers, retirees and migrant labor.  Her main jobs are to raise calves and kids, manage the parlor and anything involving their team of people on the farm. 

This podcast is co-produced by the Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, sister organizations that fight for effective dairy policy in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. Become a sponsor, share an idea or feedback by emailing podcast@dairyforward.com.