At the end of the day, it’s about the people. People make the difference in businesses, in schools, in governments, in leadership of organizations, etc. In late 2022, we had a series of videos from Malcolm DeKrgyer, culminating in the reminder that while there are a variety of animal-centric discussions to be had in animal agriculture, we really need to remember the people involved.

“I don’t think that we are sharing the reality of our people very well … I think that our people are kind of forgotten in this whole [animal] welfare conversation.” Malcolm DeKryger, April 6th, 2022 in the Consumer Corner Micro-Course Consumer-Driven Changes in Ag Market Channels

Livestock industries are navigating social pressures on a variety of fronts, but are we sharing the reality of our people within our agricultural systems? Malcolm shares candidly his thought process in considering penning systems for pigs in the context of both the animals and their needs, but also the safety and welfare of the humans working within these systems.

While there are a variety of resources available for human resource management generally, there are a variety of nuances that make agriculture – and especially on-farm employment – quite unique. Thus, the need for farm-specific employee-/people-/human resource-focused materials is real!

There are indeed unique factors challenging on-farm employees and managers, as well as challenging those all throughout agricultural supply chains. But the fact remains that people are the resource that moves our organizations forward, and human talent is the scarce resource for many of us in today’s labor marketplace. As such, increased emphasis on our people is entirely warranted.

ConsumerCorner.2023.Letter.02