The Role Of HRM In Agriculture: An Essay.

Importance of Agriculture Industry for Global Economy

Question:

Discuss about the 712258 Human Resource Management.

Global agriculture sector

Agricultural industry is one of the oldest industries in the world and is also considered to be the back bone of the economy of a number of powerful countries in the world. According to The World Bank, agriculture is one such industry that can greatly help in reducing the global poverty and raise income for improved food security for 80% of the world’s poor population. A survey in 2016 found that out of all the poor working adults in the world, 65% of them earned a living through agriculture Invalid source specified..

The entire global population is dependent on agriculture in some way or the other. One of the prime causes for being dependent on agriculture industry is because of the requirement of food. With the evolution of the global economy, the agriculture industry is also becoming very competitive. The competition in the industry has involved individuals, such as small town farmers as well as multinational companies that are now selling products grown in their own farms. The increasing competition is also affecting the employees working in the industry and is posing a great challenge to the human resource managers. One of the biggest challenge to human resource managers in the agricultural sector is attracting and retaining talented employees in the industry. Therefore, in this report, we will discuss whether human resource management can have an impact on the performance of organisations operating in the agricultural industry.

This article by Haroon Hemani provides a deep insight into the global agriculture industry and its present scenario. The article presents some important facts related to the global agriculture industry i.e. the industry alone accounts for 32% of the global employment, which is more than enough to prove the importance that the industry has in the global economy. Wherever there is a talk about employees, the word that first comes to anybody’s mind is human resource management has not been used as much as it should have been. According to the writer, human resource management should be applied more in this particular industry because it is one of the primitive sector and needs a lot of development in this particular field. The writer also discusses certain areas where human resource management can play an effective role in the agriculture sector. These roles are discussed below:

First of all, human resource management should be used to identify potential candidates that can fit in the industry and can work according to the requirements of companies. If such candidates are found, they should be considered for best available positions. This would help the agriculture sector in aligning acquirement with requirement. Secondly, the agriculture industry needs to strengthen its recruitment and hiring process as it still relies upon traditional or conventional recruitment methods. The industry needs to evolve and use new recruitment and selection techniques, such as the use of social media, to find the best people. Thirdly, human resource managers in agriculture industry can act as mediators and can facilitate communication in the organisation. In the farm industry, most of the farmers are illiterate and show a lot of resistance towards change. In such situations, human resource managers can act as mediators and can make communication more effective. Lastly, for an industry to evolve and develop, it is crucial that the people working or linked to that particular industry evolve first. Human resource management can be used to train and develop the employees working in the agriculture industry, which is an important need of the hour. The employees working in the industry need to learn about new technologies, farming solutions, flora and fauna varieties, changing environment trends, etc., which can only be achieved by making them undergo training and development programs, which is one of the most important core functions under human resource management.

Competitive Nature of Agriculture Industry

The article provides one of the best explanations as to why the global agriculture industry needs human resource management and how it can help the industry in evolving and adjusting with the changing business environment.

The article discusses two important points related to the global agriculture industry. First of all, the article discusses the need for implementing a globalised human resource management approach in the sector. Secondly, the article discusses the role of education, training and development of human resources in the agricultural sector. The article uses literature study to gather information from past reports and articles.

According to the research, the global environment is changing at a rapid pace, which is having a great impact on the global agriculture industry. The changing weather, technologies, varieties of seeds, soil structure and requirements, etc. is demanding a workforce that is technically more sound and can deal with the changing business environment. The article says that only those organisations, which are willing to use human resource management practices in dealing with the environmental changes, will be able to sustain in the market. The article also talks about the role that education, training and development can play in the global agriculture industry. According to the article, the development or the evolution of the agriculture industry is largely dependent on the development of the employees working in it. Most of the employees in the industry are illiterate and have negligible knowledge about the changing environment trends, threats to our environment, latest technological solutions, machineries, etc. Therefore, it becomes crucial to implement a systematic approach towards training and developing a technically sound workforce in the industry so that the output can be increased along with a decrease in the harmful impacts that agricultural practices can have on the environment.

The article provides a deep insight into the scenario that is prevailing in the agriculture sector at present. It talks about the urgent need of proper management of human resources in the agriculture sector, which arises because of the changing market trends and the global environment. The article suggests that the use of human resource practices can provide a solution to a number of issues prevailing in the global agriculture sector. These findings can further be used to reinforce the hypothesis.

The research discusses the workforce conditions in WI Farms, which is a large scale company operating in the agricultural sector. Around 76,400 people earnt their living on Wisconsin farms every year and all these people come from varied cultural backgrounds and have different knowledge and skills. The study throws a light on the importance of human resource management for managing such a large workforce in the agricultural industry. First of all, as the employees come from different backgrounds, they themselves want to know the characteristics on the basis of which they have been chosen. Secondly, the workforce obviously differs in terms of knowledge and skills. Therefore, it is also important to design wages and benefits programs for the employees, which can be justified and can be implemented throughout the organisation. As, most of the employees in agricultural sector are via work of mouth system, it becomes important on the part of the employer to be fair and just when it comes to compensation. Further, the article also discusses the use of human resource management in dealing with a number of issues, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, etc.  that agricultural farms face in their day to day operations. 

From the findings of the study, it is evident that the global agricultural industry is also in an urgent need of proper management of its human resources. Agricultural farms are experiencing a change in the expectations of their employees while they strive to sustain in the market by producing greater outputs and minimising the impact that they can have on the environment. Thus, to achieve better results in agricultural farms, human resource management is one of the most effective weapons at present. The findings in the study can be related with the research hypotheses as all the findings point out to the benefits that can be achieved by ensuring proper management of human resources in the agricultural sector.

The article talks about the impact of technological, demographic and environmental changes that the agribusiness has been experiencing in the past few decades. Out of all the global industries, agricultural industry has experienced the maximum impact of these changes, which has also brought about a change in the management of human resources in the industry. A number of organisations have failed to cope up with the changing market trends and have lost their position in the industry. The article talks about the importance of developing human resources in the industry, in order to enable business organisations to cope up with the changing market trends and ultimately bring about an evolution in the global agribusiness.

Human resource management can be used in the agriculture industry to distribute knowledge amongst illiterate employees and also to establish a learning culture in the sector by using training and development programs. Further, human resource management can also be used in the agricultural sector to strengthen the recruitment and selection procedures and by giving more importance to candidate skills and knowledge in the selection process. Such measures will ensure that the employees working in the agriculture sector become more aware about their environment and the changing trends in the industry, which would ultimately help them in adopting better agriculture practices for the betterment of their crop. Therefore, implementing effective human resource management practices in the agriculture sector can have a positive impact on the performance of the employees.

References

Konja, V., & Uzelac, O. (2015, May). Human Resources Management in Agribusiness: Specifics and Systematization Possibilities.

Blazek, J. (2017, June 1). Human Resource Management in Agriculture Helping Farm Managers and Employees Work Better Together. Retrieved April 15, 2018, from Univeristy of Wisconsin-Extension: https://fyi.uwex.edu/ag-human-resources/research-on-human-resource-management-on-wi-farms/

Zachrison, M. (2012, August). Human resource management in agricultural sector . Retrieved April 15, 2018, from www.researchgate.net: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256395313_Human_resource_management_in_agricultural_sector

Hemani, H. (2016, January 1). Human Resource Management (HRM) in Agriculture . Retrieved April 15, 2018, from www.alrasub.com: https://www.alrasub.com/human-resource-management-hrm-in-agriculture/