Seeds Farm is owned and managed by Rebecca Rudebusch and has been growing organic produce in Northfield, Minnesota since 2010. Seeds Farm grows over 25 different crops for wholesale accounts in MN and surrounding areas with a team of 5 season employees.
Bethanee Wright is owner and organic vegetable farmer at Winterfell Acres. Bethanee runs her organic farm, facilitates healing work for others and enjoys rural life with her husband, two daughters, three big white fluffy dogs and one tiny farm cat.
Deirdre Birmingham runs an organic cider apple orchard in Southwest Wisconsin. The apples are processed on-farm to make award-winning hard ciders and apple brandy.
Kate Donald has been farming for 20+ years, having worked on farms in California and Massachusetts before returning to here home state of New Hampshire. She and her husband Jeff co-own Stout Oak Farm, a Certified Organic vegetable farm in Brentwood, NH, where she works with a team of twelve employees to grow vegetables, microgreens, seedlings, and cut flowers. Kate also co-owns the local food hub Three River Farmers Alliance.
Slides providing highlights and lessons learned from a vegetable financials benchmark project conducted by CISA under a Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project and PASA's Diversified Vegetable Financial Benchmark Study.
The interview is one of the most important steps in the hiring process. It provides an opportunity to get to know applicants before you make a commitment to invest in a new team member.
These sample questionnaires and informational resources from UVM Extension, UNH Extention, Iowa State University Extension & Outreach can help you navigate the interview process.
This journal article identifies and analyzes social, economic and cognitive pathways through which childcare impacts farm decisions, operations, labor, and success. The authors draw on interviews and focus group data with farmers in the Northeast US to describe how farmer-parents access and negotiate child care, and suggest that childcare arrangements are an under recognized challenge through which farm household dynamics directly influence agricultural production.
This two-pager provides guidance on what to do should ICE or Border Patrol come to your farm or stops your vehicle. Note: While the information in this resource has been reviewed by immigration attorneys, it should not be considered legal advice. For legal advice pertaining to your needs please consult with an attorney.
Reporting on two sets of interviews with 90 farmers and 19 farm workers in six states, this 2021 online seminar session shared highlights from stories about hiring and working on small and mid-sized farms in six states (NC, NH, OH, PA, VT, and WI).
This March 2021 series presented highlights from recent research and extension projects focusing on labor management and decision-making on small and mid-sized produce and livestock farms. Links to recordings, slide decks and related information and resources from each of the three one-hour sessions are provided.
This educational guide covers a broad range of legal topics relevant to agricultural producers in New Hampshire. Updated in 2025, it includes topics such as labor/employment law, business structures, and food regulations.
If you are new to the legal aspects being a farm employer, you will want to gain an understanding the following topics at a minimum: workers compensation, minimum wage, paperwork needed at the start…
UVM Extension's Agricultural Engineer Chris Callahan shares simple approaches to ergonomics - the practice of designing and arranging the things we use so that we interact with them efficiently and safely -- that can make a big difference to everyone.
When Southern Idaho producers expressed concerns with the turnover of Hispanic agriculture employees, University of Idaho Extension researchers deployed a survey to gauge the importance of different work factors and their impact on longevity of employment.
This article by Kimberly Williams-Brackett provides further analysis of the the research presented in Money Doesn’t Always Matter, Low Cost Ways to Increase the Longevity of Southern Idaho’s Hispanic Agricultural Employees while considering surveys and findings from the past 10 years.
The National Safe Tractor and Machinery Operation Program provides curriculum that covers core content areas for tractor and machine operation safety, including safety basics, agricultural hazards, tractors, connecting and using implements with tractors and materials handling.
NYCAMH has a web page dedicated to providing health and safety resources for farmers. Materials, which have nationwide relevance, are available in both Spanish and English versions.
Having a system in place to orient new hires ensures each employee hears important information your operation and completes all the necessary forms. This checklist saves you from problems down the road when an important form is missing or some important policy does not get communicated.
This Growing for Market podcast explores efficient systems and organization for packing sheds and more with some of the industry's top problem-solvers.
This FAQ-style resource helps farm businesses understand and manage payroll taxes. It covers topics such as Federal and State Unemployment Tax (FUTA and SUTA), the thresholds for paying these taxes, the costs involved, and the steps to comply with tax regulations. Author: Rachel Armstrong, Farm Commons. Last updated July 2024.
