Jun. 20—Labor recruitment and retention are the two biggest challenges facing Central Pennsylvania's farming communities, said panelists in a two-hour agricultural virtual roundtable held Tuesday morning.
Moderated by Theresa Kohler, lead business consultant — Central Region, PA CareerLink, the discussion focused on the result of a survey sent to stakeholders in the agriculture business.
Lack of agriculture workers continues to be U.S. agriculture's most frustrating challenge, Kohler said, beginning the roundtable talk.
One of the problems is long days with less pay, explained Robert Zeigler.
"Our people don't seem to want to work that hard," Zeigler said. "This seems to be an ongoing problem in the farming industry."
Potential workers also want benefits and farms often don't offer benefits, said Sarah Zost, business manager, Bonnie Brae Fruit Farms, Gardeners, Adams County.
"Many farms just don't have the ability to offer benefits," Brae said. "So they really can't compete with employers who do offer them. Our people, when we are hiring, it's a word of mouth."
Bringing in seasonal workers from Mexico has been one solution, but it would be easier to find skilled workers locally — if we can find them, Zost said.
Once you find them, you need to keep them, said Jeff Giger, structural engineer, TeamAg Inc.
"Because if you don't you'll just have to train someone else," he said.
Another issue challenging farmers is the cost of business, said Cher Harpster, of Penn State Extension.
"The cost of fuel is high. The cost of fertilizer is high," Herpster said. "At least we got lucky and we decided not to put a tariff on new fertilizer coming into the country. All of this puts a strain on farming. If everything is rising in cost it can be devastating, especially for a small farm."
Smart Farming, or the use of farm technology is also a challenge, due to the high initial costs of installing the latest ag-supporting technologies.