This summer, you’ll probably need more seasonal or temporary workers to harvest your produce. After all, crops won’t wait until you have enough workers on the field. Unfortunately, you’re not the only one looking for skilled employees—your competitors might be ramping up their teams as you read this. To make matters worse, the job market isn’t exactly overflowing with available workers. In fact, labor shortages continue to challenge many industries, including produce and agriculture.
This is why it’s crucial to refine your recruitment strategy to secure reliable seasonal workers. Finding seasonal employees can be tricky. With this guide, you’ll be able to onboard qualified seasonal staff—before your competition does.
Why Does the Produce Industry Need a Seasonal Workforce?
The produce industry requires a highly accurate and responsive labor force. Unlike manufacturing or service-based companies—where customer demand often drives operations—produce businesses follow the agricultural calendar. Timing depends on the growing cycle, and once crops reach maturity, there’s no delaying the work.
This is why growers and distributors must secure reliable seasonal workers even before peak picking season begins. Here’s a closer look:
1. Harvest timing is critical.
Most fruits and vegetables have narrow harvest windows. Miss these windows, and you risk reduced quality, spoilage, or even financial losses.
A robust temporary workforce ensures you can handle production during peak seasons. This helps preserve product quality, leading to better sales and market satisfaction.
2. Labor needs shift during peak seasons.
Unlike permanent roles, responsibilities in the produce industry are not constant throughout the year. For example, a strawberry farm might only need minimal manpower in the early months. This includes preparing the soil, maintaining equipment, and tending the plants.
However, this changes during peak seasons, as you’ll need more workers to handle tasks like picking, packing, and sorting. Seasonal employment can offer this flexibility and help you efficiently adjust your business capacity.
3. Manual labor is still vital.
Despite the technological advancements in agriculture, many tasks still require manual labor. Many of today’s machines are not yet fully optimized to handle delicate crops without risking damaging them.
Also, investing in heavy machinery can be costly, especially for small businesses. Furthermore, due to the industry’s seasonality, you might be able to maximize these machines, leaving them unused for most of the year.
On the other hand, hiring temporary workers not only helps maintain fresh produce, but it can also lower your expenses and maintain a healthy cash flow for your business.
4. Expenses can be more manageable.
Working with a seasonal workforce is ideal to give you more control over where you allocate resources. It allows you to make better decisions on how you can invest your funds or support other business activities.
5. Post-harvest work requires extra hands.
After harvesting your crops, you’ll need to wash, sort, pack, label, and ship your production. This often requires a 24- to 48-hour window to maintain freshness and quality.
These additional processes can make production more complicated. The logistics alone add another layer of workload to your business. Regardless of whether you’re handling your own distribution, having a productive team is necessary to keep operations smooth. However, once these are all accomplished, you’ll no longer need the extra workforce.
Hiring seasonal employees not only ensures you’ll have the right capacity during peak seasons, but it also supports your bottom line.
6. Weather and climate can be unpredictable.
You already know how quickly weather can throw off your entire timeline. Heavy rains, heat waves, or unexpected frost can push harvests earlier or later—and you’ve probably dealt with the fallout before.
Having a flexible pool of on-call seasonal workers ready to go means you can respond fast when these situations hit. How quickly you react during these unexpected events can make or break your season.
7. The industry must meet buyer compliance and retailer standards.
Large corporations, grocery chains, or export clients impose strict standards for quality. This includes packaging, appearance, size, shelf-life, and timing. Employing skilled seasonal workers helps ensure that you meet these standards consistently. This is crucial in protecting your client’s trust and market reputation.
How to Secure Reliable Seasonal Workers Ahead of Peak Season
Seasonal jobs are offered across many industries, yet the market is already experiencing workforce gaps. This intensifies competition for the limited pool of skilled talent available. To succeed, you need to be proactive and strategic in your approach. So, how do you reach potential workers before your competitors do?
1. Start hiring early.
While this is easier said than done, it’s a vital step to maintaining a capable workforce. Using your annual data and industry knowledge, forecast your workforce needs throughout the year. Once you know your expected capacity in the coming months, you can begin searching for workers. This gives you time to evaluate their skills or offer training as necessary. Before the peak season comes in, you’ll have a potential list of workers you can contact.
2. Use targeted recruitment campaigns.
Don’t rely solely on general job boards. Instead, consider advertising in places workers frequently visit. This may include:
- Tapping into your local farming communities
- Partnering with agricultural schools
- Accessing social media groups like Facebook, TikTok, or Reddit
- Spreading your workforce needs through word-of-mouth
The key is to expand your search and make it easier for workers to spot your job ad. You can also contact your past workers, offering rehiring or referral programs.
3. Offer competitive pay and perks.
Seasonal workers often choose between several short-term gigs.
Make yours more attractive by offering:
- Competitive pay rates. Match or go beyond your competitors’ offers.
- End-of-season bonuses. Seasonal workers don’t often receive end-of-year bonuses.
- Transportation, meals, or housing support. Farms are usually located in remote places. Offering these perks can make your workforce’s employment more sustainable.
- Overtime pay. While overtime pay for agricultural workers is not required in every state, it may prove to be the benefit that turns the tide.
Read more: From Paychecks to Pathways: How Employers Can Win Talent with Career Growth, Not Just Salaries
4. Simplify your evaluation process.
Hiring produce workers doesn’t need to be tedious. While skills are necessary and crucial to their success, you don’t have to include high levels of technical assessment. Instead, focus on their experiences and critical skills like:
- Attention to detail
- Physical stamina
- Reliability
- Ability to follow instructions
- Basic food handling knowledge
5. Streamline application and onboarding.
The application process needs to be easy to complete. This ensures applicants will finish their application and not give up halfway through. This ease should extend to the onboarding process as well. Here’s what you can do:
- Avoid asking irrelevant questions about the role.
- Don’t ask for duplicate information.
- Use digital platforms for the application.
- Offer quick-start training guides.
- Assign a point person to support their role.
Read more: Onboarding Essentials: How to Quickly Integrate and Retain New Industrial Hires
6. Maintain a healthy relationship with previous workers.
Rehiring former workers can be a smart move. This ensures you’re employing workers who already know how your business operates. Plus, you already know if they’re productive and efficient. Overall, this helps reduce the time needed to evaluate and train new employees. Here’s a checklist of what you can do:
- Keep a contact list of your past employees.
- Send reminders before peak season. This allows them to free up their time and manage their employment.
- Offer loyalty bonuses or a pay increase to attract workers.
7. Invest in a good work environment.
Aside from adhering to regulations like offering minimum wage, occupational safety standards, and child labor laws, consider creating a positive and healthy work environment. Word spreads fast—and within a tight circle, your reputation as an employer can make or break your future hiring efforts.
Fair treatment, timely pay, and a respectful culture are just a few of the things you can practice within your organization. Keep equipment and machinery well-maintained to give your workers the best chance to fulfill their responsibilities. Remember, employees thrive better in a healthy workplace.
Read more: Safety and Retention Go Hand in Hand: Why Safer Workplaces Keep Employees Longer
8. Hire seasonal employees with a staffing agency.
A staffing agency like Horizon America can offer quick solutions to your staffing needs. Not only that, staffing agencies maintain a strong relationship with both companies and candidates. This allows them to place the right employees in the right organizations.
Staffing companies have years of experience in the industry and know their clients’ specific requirements. This reduces vetting and onboarding, making the recruitment process far more efficient.
Partner with Horizon America for your seasonal needs.
Seasons change, and this summer you might be one of the businesses that faces a peak season. If you’re looking to expand your workforce, Horizon America can help! We are experts not just in the produce industry, but in light industrial, manufacturing, sanitation, and packaging fields as well.
Whether you need to increase workforce capacity or are looking to secure workers in the coming season, we can connect you with reliable seasonal workers. We place harvesters, sorters, machine operators, quality control staff, and more!
Contact us today to gain access to the workers you need.
