Onboarding Dairy Employees 2020: Safe, Productive and Engaged from Day One
Onboarding Dairy Employees 2020: Safe, Productive and Engaged from Day One
The first days and weeks on the job set the course for a new farm employee. Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development is seeking dairy farmers to participate in the second year of an onboarding project funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute.
Farms in the Onboarding Project work closely with an adviser to customize a professional and legally-compliant new employee onboarding process, and to improve farm human resource management practices. Well planned onboarding leads to a successful long-term manager-employee relationship with higher employee retention, safety, productivity, and job satisfaction.
Use Employee Onboarding to achieve:
- COMPLIANCE. Basic compliance with regulations and policies.
- CLARITY. Training on safety, work procedures, and expectations.
- CULTURE. Communicate your farm's procedures, values, traditions and norms.
- CONNECTION. Help employees forge relationships at work and find their place to engage and thrive.
Over the next year, the Ag Workforce Development Team will partner with 25 farms in a three-session Zoom series to develop onboarding materials, trainings and methods.
- Onboarding Program Flyer
- Onboarding Program News Release
- Guide for Conducting Employee Onboarding. Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development. Make a good impression and connect employees with the team to retain valued employees.
If your farm is looking for a way to improve employee retention and increase overall productivity of employees, contact your local Cornell Cooperative Extension Educator or Richard Stup, Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development, at res396@cornell.edu.
Field Crops
Dairy
Business
Livestock
Grains
Upcoming Events
Silvopasture on a Shoestring
October 7, 2025
Franklinville, NY
Join Joshua Greene, Director of Education at Trees For Graziers, Jonathan Bates, Statewide Agroforestry Educator, and Lynn Bliven, owner of Wild Geese Farm for a full day training event that will include classroom and hands-on sessions. The focus will be on DIY silvopasture projects on small grazing farms. We will address the practical considerations of tree establishment, protection, and maintenance while learning how silvopasture can help address your farm's resource concerns and enhance livestock grazing.
Optimizing the Economic Return of Pasture-Raised Slow-Growth and Conventional Broilers - Webinar
October 15, 2025
November 13, 2025
: Optimizing the Economic Return of Pasture-Raised Slow-Growth and Conventional Broilers - Webinar
Over the past three years, Cornell Cooperative Extension has worked with nearly 40 small farmers across NYS to gather information on the true costs of raising broilers (meat chickens) on pasture. This presentation is a summary of the findings of this research project.
Fecal Egg Count Mobile Workshop - East Aurora
October 21, 2025 : Fecal Egg Count Mobile Workshop - East Aurora
East Aurora, NY
This workshop will explain why regularly testing fecal egg counts can help you with understanding your animals' parasite loads and dewormer resistance. Attendees have the opportunity to prepare and evaluate fresh fecal samples under the microscope and practice interpretations.
Announcements
Herbicide Resistance Screening
We are screening weed species for herbicide resistance.Species we are looking for include, but aren't limited to:
- Tall Waterhemp
- Palmer Amaranth
- Marestail
- Redroot Pigweed
- Foxtails
- Common Lambsquarters
- Common Ragweed
Reach out to Katelyn Miller at 716-640-2047 or km753@cornell.edu for more information.