DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Quint Pottinger rarely discusses his Kentucky family farm without bragging about his co-workers. A combination of full-time and seasonal employees, along with a college intern and family workers, make the wheels turn at Affinity Farms.
Pottinger is also the first to admit that employee management is a skill set he was initially reluctant to exercise. "Eventually, doing everything we were doing by ourselves became untenable. I had to have help, and that required that I dig deep to create an employment model for this farm," Pottinger said.
What that looks like involves more than just getting the work done. It consists of making employees do written goal setting that explores broad life goals that may result in the farm being a training ground for bigger things off the farm. Ironically, it's just that scenario that has him in the hunt for in order to replace an employee this fall.
In southeastern Idaho, Dan Lakey feels the labor pains echoed by many farmers across the country. Mining scoops up most of the potential workforce in his region. But three years ago, the farm brought on a full-time employee who has become a valued asset. The goal now is to keep that relationship solid.
Lakey and Pottinger are participating in the 2024 DTN View From the Cab series, a diary-like feature that explores crop conditions and other rural issues. This is the 15th article in the series that began in May and will continue through the growing season.
This week finds the farmers beginning to think about harvest. Lakey's winter cereal crops have turned the corner, despite some woeful weather challenges. Pottinger is reassessing his earlier fears of doom and gloom after July and early August delivered some reassuring rains.
Bringing those crops in requires manpower, and this week the farmers also tackle the topic of finding, keeping, motivating and occasionally letting farm help go.
DAN LAKEY: SODA SPRINGS, IDAHO
Harvest is knocking on the door at Lakey Farms, but little housekeeping was required to get things rolling. "We've got three combines this year and going over them in prep for harvest found some minor maintenance items such as broken hoses and other wear," Dan Lakey said. One is a brand-new machine, but the header is older. They found some problems when they put a pan under it and did a test run.
A few tweaks and quick repairs allowed a first dive into soft white winter wheat on Friday, August 9. "It was pretty dry. Yield and quality good. A nice surprise," Lakey said. The plan is to get after winter wheat in earnest next week, while holding hope there will be no more weather whammies.
"We've been in a pattern -- which is normal for us -- of getting hail the first part of August. Every afternoon, we watch the clouds build up while crossing our fingers that it is not the white combine," Lakey said. When the temperatures begin to drop, the hail events start to subside in this area of higher elevation.
DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick is willing to be slightly reassuring on the weather front. "Some thunderstorms may float through the mountains around Soda Springs this week, but it's likely to stay dry in the valleys. Temperatures will be above normal as well, but extreme heat is not anticipated. It looks like a lot of days with highs near 80, pretty good weather for harvest overall."
Even the early planted spring wheat is maturing fast now and Lakey estimated spring wheat would begin in the next two weeks.
High winds and hail on July 26 have taken a toll on some of his crops, especially the winter canola. While it isn't as bad as the hail event he endured in 2023, it's still an ouch. "This year the top one-third of the crop seems to be shelled out. We will run the combine through it for insurance purposes and see what's there," he said.
Lakey's perspective about farm help and managing people is shaped by the fact that he returned to the home farm in 2009 after working in the business world. "Honestly, I wasn't very happy those first few years back at the farm. I had a college degree and all this experience in the corporate world and suddenly I felt like the low man on the totem pole," he recalled.
"I hated showing up and waiting for someone to finish up what they were doing to tell me how I could be helper for the day. It drove me crazy.
"Things started to change when I started seeing the bigger picture of the farm and what needed to be done and what I needed to accomplish that day," he said.
That's a lesson he tries to remember as he works with others on the farm. Today, Lakey and his brother, David, manage the farm together. For many years, the need for hired help was seasonal during planting and harvest. The farm still hires truck drivers and combine operators during those periods--how many and for how long depends on the size of the crop.
"The phosphate mines employ nearly every available person in this area between 20 and 60 and the pay is very good. So, the work pool we hire from is often 70-plus. They are usually quality guys that have retired and just looking for some hours on the side," he said. They also have an extended family member who enjoys the work and spends his vacation helping them during harvest.
However, more recently, David's son-in-law, Daniel Walker, has come on as a full-time employee. "He didn't have a farm background and initially, I wasn't sure we could keep him busy enough year-round.
"But I tell you, it's been refreshing to have Daniel here. He was basically a blank slate and didn't come with preconceived ideas of the way he wants to do things or the way things should be done.
"He's full of ambition. He's energetic. He doesn't complain. And ... I love it," he admitted. "We have him do a lot of the jobs that require some extra ambition and some energy. And, quite frankly, he's thin enough to squeeze into certain spots that we can't!"
Lakey said after three years, the focus has now turned to employee retention and providing fair income, benefits and incentives to make sure Daniel stays both content and energized. "We try to keep the lines of communication open. It's amazing to have an employee that is happy-go-lucky, but you also must make sure they make their voice heard if something is wrong," Lakey noted.
Short morning meetings are important, especially since the farm is spread over 50-odd miles. "It's pretty rudimentary, but just going over schedules helps us plan and works for us," he said. The farm team finds sitting down together for an occasional planning breakfast and/or lunch to be therapeutic, too.
"We have a very laid-back atmosphere around our farm. There's just a small group of us, but we have a lot to do. This year, we've been giving Daniel ownership on more projects. There are tons of things on a farm to delegate -- whether it is irrigation or just working on a specific piece of machinery. He's a tremendous welder and there's always something to weld around here," he said.
Some early talks about how the farm might delve into new opportunities, such as agritourism, including Daniel are also starting to simmer. "Giving the employee some kind of ownership in the business seems to me a perfect way to get them to take the extra steps to care and be excellent at what they do," he said.
Realizing strengths and weaknesses is important in that equation. The Lakey brothers have divided responsibilities based on skill sets as there's little time for duplication of effort.
"Knowing your employees and what they excel at is a critical part of being a farm manager. I'm not perfect at it, but I'm starting to see the importance of being efficient by avoiding overlapping assignments, especially when you are short-handed. The goal is to utilize people where they shine," he said.
Not only are the fields Lakey farms spread far, wide and at high elevations, but cell service can often be spotty in those areas. "Here, you can't afford to be vague when talking about the job ahead. And you don't want to be unprepared. In fact, we try to go into a task over-prepared with not only a plan A, but a plan B, C and D," he said.
QUINT POTTINGER: NEW HAVEN, KENTUCKY
Quint Pottinger went into July thinking the worst about crop prospects. A wet spring held up planting to the extent that he had to switch some acres to soybeans. Corn roots were shallow, and sidewall compaction was a concern. Then, June turned achingly dry.
July is typically the dry month in these rolling central Kentucky hills. Not this year. It rained in July.
"This is the best setup we've had in the 12 years I've been farming. We had a good run at it in 2013 after the big drought year but didn't get the July and August rains to finish. I'm pretty excited about the potential I'm seeing this year and never would have guessed I'd be saying that after the planting season we had," he said.
Corn ears he pulled this week were 20 kernels around and at about row 20, narrowed in circumference to 16 rows for another 20-plus rows of length. While row number is more genetically dependent than row length, Pottinger assumes something happened early in the development stage, but then, the plant found another gear.
"In scouting, we are finding ears consistently averaging 18 around that are 48 rows long," Pottinger said. "We know we had heat stress and some pollination issues, but our yield checks have me excited.
"At one point, I thought we'd be lucky to have 100-bushel (per acre) corn. Last week I was thinking maybe 160 (bpa) and I've revised my farm average estimate to 170 (bpa), which would be a great year for us."
DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick sees a complicated forecast for New Haven. "Temperatures start cool early in the week (August 11) and should be rising gradually through the end of the week," he said. "But there will be a couple of disturbances moving through from the west. Models are keeping much of the rain well off to the west, but I'd be surprised if a day or two this week didn't catch a rain. If the rain does come, then the temperature forecast is likely out of whack by several degrees."
Those rains would be just what Pottinger needs to fill out that promising crop. What he also needs (as of last week) is someone to fill the role of grain facilities manager. The employee who has held that role is departing after securing an opportunity to go back to school, which will ultimately result in a job he dreamed of years ago during one of those many goal-setting exercises.
Pottinger admits that he can feel the eye rolls when employees are asked to sit down with paper and pencil and map out their future. "It's hard to motivate someone to clean out a grain bin or wash a combine. But if they know this isn't all this job is -- that it is something that helps them take steps toward what they want to achieve -- then that's motivating," he said.
"What we want to embrace is the question: What can this farm teach you to achieve those goals? Let's start by working toward that," he said. "When we hire, we're looking for people who want to invest in themselves."
He also prefers to hire self-starters. It was the major attribute he saw in employee Mike Barnes, who Pottinger considers the human glue that holds the entire operation together. "He's careful. He knows how to work on anything. I will never get a call from him unless a part needs to be ordered or he needs picked up in the field.
"I've seen him come in on Saturday just to change fuel filters in the combine, so we'll be ready to go on Monday. When everything seems done, he's sweeping the shop or washing equipment. He's geared to self-manage himself.
"It wasn't long after I hired Mike that I realized he is also part of the employment model I was seeking. The idea behind hiring others is to lighten the load and allow me to get into the office more. I can do that by hiring other self-starters and that don't need 'managed' and let Mike oversee them," he said.
Being a self-starter isn't the same as needing occasional training. Here, employees truly do learn from mistakes. "We have a rule on the farm: If you break something, you fix it. If you make a mess, you clean it up," Pottinger said, noting that some natural-born welders have been discovered thanks to this edict.
"The rule applies to me too," he said. "I had a mentor tell me once: Never ask somebody to do a hard job because you didn't want to work hard. That stuck with me."
Pottinger has pulled management thoughts from leadership training he had as the Kentucky FFA President. Commodity organization work and The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP) have all helped him hone this model for what he wants to achieve with employees. He's also gleaned advice from his wife, Leah, who works in human resources and manages people. He depends on his father, Ramey, who also works on the farm, to help sort through the chaff.
"Dad does a lot to keep all of us motivated. He's great at teaching new skills and is so patient with all of us," he said.
Even his mother, Donna Pottinger, helps bring the farm team to the table. She prepares lunch for the crew each workday, a communal experience that draws everyone closer together.
While monetary compensation is part of the equation, Pottinger said it is hard for the farm to compete with the distilleries in the area for local labor. "We try to stay competitive with pay, but we're trying to foster something more than just a job with our employees.
"That's one of my goals, anyway," he said.
Pamela Smith can be reached at Pamela.smith@dtn.com
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