Investing in people helps the farm
By Rae Groeneveld

When you think of farming, human resources isn’t something that necessarily comes to mind as an integral part of a successful operation. However, a Saskatchewan farm is basing a large part of its profitability on a deliberate plan to get the most out of employees.

Kenton and Pam Possberg operate a 13,000-acre grain farm near Humboldt, Sask. They direct seed a wide range of crops including wheat, peas, barley (malt and feed), sunflowers, lentils, flax, oats, canola and canary seed. Managing everything from proper agronomic practices to maximizing equipment has made their farm extremely efficient and productive even in the years where Mother Nature doesn’t co-operate.

Kenton and Pam have been selected as Saskatchewan’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2006, partially because of their strategy for training and retaining employees and making them an integral part of the operation.

The Possbergs have looked to other businesses and sectors to get ideas on how to motivate employees and get the most from the people on their team.

“You can’t just look at farm business models. You need to be able to look outside of the box – at other business models. If it’s been successful there, why can’t it be successful here?” Kenton reasons.

Two full-time staff members are a part of Possberg Farms Inc. year-round. Four more are hired to help with seeding and harvest.

The success of the Possberg farm has a lot to do with efficiencies in production generated by employees who know what to do and how to best perform the task.

“Some take training courses through farm machinery dealerships. Some take welding or pesticide applicator courses – whatever we feel could be of benefit to them,” Possberg explains. “This enables them to run the machinery at peak capacity in the most agronomically sound way.”

Possberg says proper training means his staff is more independent and can make informed decisions that save time and money at critical times in the farm production cycle. He believes the time and money invested in training is very worthwhile.

“You more than make up for it if the person is able to get another three acres per hour out of a combine through knowledge of the machine. It’s also reassuring that employees know where the limits are, so they are not wrecking the machine and having downtime and additional repair costs.”

A team atmosphere is extremely important to Possberg. One of the new strategies implemented this year to foster the team philosophy is involving staff in the budgeting process. All team members were allowed to view the budgets for each aspect of the operation, such as seeding and spraying. Performance bonuses were awarded to the employees for meeting a certain target.

“It’s gone a lot better than what I expected. I had the staff coming in, asking how we were doing with our budget, just seeing where things were. That helped them in the decision-making process and gave them the incentive to do their best.”

Possberg says normally they would have to get some custom work done, but this new incentive program has, so far, allowed them to do everything on-farm and avoid additional costs such as hiring another sprayer.

A competent staff also allows Possberg to focus on running the farm business. He has a field operations manager who ensures employees are getting the work done.

“Just having him in that position enables me to look at new business opportunities and different ways of doing things. That’s allowed our acreage to become more profitable.”

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