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Know How / Staff management

A motivated, well-trained team can be the key to running a successful agricultural business, but people management can be a challenge. Get expert advice on how to recruit and retain the best farm staff, plus tips on staying on the right side of the law when it comes to employment issues.

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STAFF MANAGEMENT

How Gold Cup winners are managing staff

Teamwork, staff management and new technology are the three secrets to running a successful business, says Philip Metcalfe of Metcalfe Farms. Last year the farm scooped the NMR/RABDF Gold Cup…

DAIRY

How to run a successful multi-site dairy business

The Pilkington family have taken their passion for simple grass-based dairying and developed it into a successful multi-site business. Driven by a clear succession plan with their son Matt returning…

NEWS

How a post-Brexit staff shortage could affect horticulture

When award-winning vegetable grower Joe Rolfe needs his brassicas weeding, an army of people descend by the busload on the farm. Horticulture is notoriously labour intensive – and even more…

LIVESTOCK

New Zealander helps Oxford farm cope with shearing season

Shearing is a specialist skill, and one that takes many years and thousands, if not millions, of sheep to master. For Oxfordshire shearer Stuart Connor, being able to hire a…

Practical advice

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STAFF MANAGEMENT

Tips for managing staff in diversified farm businesses

Staff management in a busy venture can take up a huge amount of time, whether it's recruitment, juggling rotas or making decisions on pay issues. With 70 full- and part-time…

STAFF MANAGEMENT

What skills to look for when recruiting farm staff

When assessing the performance of their team, or when seeking to recruit new staff, farmers often focus on the skills and knowledge of a potential employee.  While this is important,…

STAFF MANAGEMENT

Taking on an apprentice – what farm employers need to know

Apprenticeships offer young people an opportunity to earn while they earn, but what is involved from an employer’s perspective?  We answer the frequently asked questions and provide information on where…

BUSINESS

Housing multiple staff: What farmer landlords need to know

Farmers with staff accommodation housing multiple occupants or who let residential property are reminded that new rules came into force last year. These require them to register their property with…

BUSINESS

Business Clinic: Insurance tips for student harvest help

Whether it’s a legal, tax, insurance, management or land issue, Farmers Weekly’s experts can help. Here, Paige Dalby of insurance broker Farmers and Mercantile explains what checks to make when…

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Tips for better time management on the farm

Sourcing labour is an increasingly important issue for many farm businesses, but potential recruits can be put off by farming’s culture of long hours. Farm workers often want a better…

Insights

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BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Outlook 2019: What Brexit uncertainty means for farm profits

The UK has high employment rates but a challenging economic background. Across the wider economy, a very free labour market offers confidence to employers to take on workers. However, many…

CAREERS AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Farm manager salaries stagnate but benefits rise

Farm managers earned an average of £52,268 in 2017, just £30 more than two years earlier. This was made up of a £48,760 gross salary plus an average £3,508 bonus…

NEWS

Shocking extent of modern slavery in agriculture revealed

The shocking extent of labour exploitation and modern-day slavery in agriculture has been laid bare in a new report by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA). Drawing on its…

BUSINESS

What the EU agreement on citizens’ rights means for farmworker...

Last week the government announced to great fanfare that it and the EU had come to an agreement about citizens’ rights post Brexit. This will have a big impact on…

BREXIT

Analysis: Access to farm labour if the UK left the EU

Migrant labour plays a key role in agriculture – but could farmers, especially in the horticulture sector, access enough labour if the UK voted to leave the EU? Under the…

BUSINESS

Analysis: How the new wages rise will hit horticulture hard

The UK’s horticulture sector wakes up today, Friday 1 April, to what some predict will be the biggest upheaval in a generation – the introduction of the national living wage…