With increasing urbanization around the globe, the agricultural sector is facing an unprecedented crunch in labor costs and acquisition. Countries like the US, New Zealand, and Canada are already facing the farm labor crisis. Labor shortages and aging populations are some important factors that we need to consider when discussing the changing issues of labor costs.

Operating a farm is complicated and being an Ag employer complicates it further, bringing unique and ongoing challenges that have little to do with growing food. The work needed to grow, package and sell high-quality produce is already never-ending, making the burden of HR administrative overhead tasks much more formidable. Many growers and ag industry employers echo complaints about the daunting task of organizing labour efficiently including: documenting work done, handling complicated payroll processes, fielding worker disputes, and meeting labor reporting demands.

This blog is part one of a series on berry harvest. Part one on the challenges of harvesting berries by hand. Part two offers solutions to some of these challenges using Croptracker. Find part 2, Croptracker Feature Use Case: Speed Scanning for Berry Harvest here.