The Rural Voice, 1988-05, Page 27a few days each week on his work
as a director on the Ontario Pork
Producers Marketing Board, Roy to
act as vice-president of the Ontario
Swine Breeders Association, and Dan
to pursue a career as a professional
singer.
The three split the field work, and
hire part-time help. Their uncle is also
an active worker. "These retired
farmers," notes John, "are a pretty
good source of labour supply." Not
only do they know machinery, he
says, but they tend to be surprised by
pay increases.
The first full-time employee was
hired in 1978 to manage a new sow
barn in a period of major expansion on
the farm. Today, with five full-time
people, the Lichti shareholders are
assessing possibilities for the future of
their operation. With today's capital -
intensive farming, John says, "Most of
us aren't going to have sons that go
into agriculture like we did with our
fathers .... You have to look further
than the family."
"Further" may mean considering
models long used in industry. Making
shares available to long-term employ-
ees is one of the options. "I think
that's one of the things that will have
to be done if you want to find good
people and keep them," John says.
Another option, if an employee wants
to buy his own farm, is rolling it into
the company. "I think we have to look
at creative ways of bringing people
in," John says.
One attempt to serve the swine
and poultry sectors is being made by
Ridgetown College of Agricultural
Technology, which for the past two
years has offered co-op programs in
swine technology and poultry tech-
nology as well as elevator -farm sup-
ply. Industry was interested in the
swine and poultry options, but there
wasn't much enthusiasm from poten-
tial students. According to Brian
Doidge, head of agricultural econo-
mics and business at Ridgetown,
young people interested in swine or
poultry generally want to return to the
family operation. And students can
easily see a number of career oppor-
tunities associated with the elevator -
farm supply option. Yet Doidge
agrees that "the trend in the industry
has been, and I think it will be,
towards large-scale, commercial
operations." The Ridgetown courses
are waiting to equip students with the
required technical skills.
The Lichtis have experienced that
shortage of interest directly. When
they ran a four-week advertisement
for a feeder barn manager last year,
Amilia Orlinski: Autonomy in tier
work and good employer-employee
communication are just two of the
advantages of her job. "It's big," she
says of the Lichti operation, "but it's
still family."
offering more than $20,000 a year plus
benefits, they received no replies. It's
not surprising, then, that John Lichti
doesn't approve of government train-
ing programs designed to get ex -
farmers jobs in other fields. "It seems
to me a waste of money for govern-
ment to train people to get out of the
industry when the industry is crying
for labour."
John Grant at the Agricultural
Employment Services office knows
that cry well. Agricultural workers are
in especially short supply this year
because the economy is so good, he
says. People just don't want farm
work, and farmers are hard pressed to
match wages in other job sectors.
"As time goes on," Grant adds,
"and this situation gets tougher to
service, there are going to be people
looking at different situations to entice
people in."
John Devlin is a Canadian Rural
Transition Program (CRTP) co-
ordinator out of Stratford. He agrees
that "There are an awful lot of farmers
who need help, and there's a real
shortage of skills in that area." But,
he says, most wages offered for farm
work are too low for employees who
have to support a family, and most of
the farmers he sees through the CRT'',
"have no desire to work for somebody,
else."
Instead, Devlin says, his clients
are often placed in anything from
welding, drafting, and factory work to
college and university courses. They
have some clients starting at $13 an
hour, he reports, and one woman who
is making quilts. Farmers have a wide
range of skills, Devlin adds. "They're
a pretty employable group of people."
Bob McMann at the Rural Organi-
zations Branch, Guelph Agriculture
Centre, also comments on the same
image problem of farm labour. Farm
workers, he says, are "a different class
of citizens under provincial law."
Despite the fact that farm workers
are exempt from the parts of the Em-
ployment Standards Act that govern
wages, overtime pay, vacation pay,
public holiday pay, and hours of work,
the Lichtis have set up their own
guidelines:
• employees are salaried; pay is
above the industry average,
• employees are given specific
responsibilities and keep their own
hours,
• salary increases, while not
automatic, are considered annually,
• bonuses are paid based on a
monthly production basis,
• health plan premiums are shared
50-50 by employer and employee,
• employees get seven paid
holidays annually as well as two
weeks of paid vacation (three weeks
after four years of employment).
But choosing employees is as
important as keeping them. "It's
extremely important to match up the -•
person with the job," John says,
adding that honesty is critical: "If it's
dirty work, they should be told that
it's dirty work."
Amilia agrees with this manage-
ment style: "I like to say what I think,
MAY 1988 25