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Nebraska ag leaders say labor shortage top priority for industry

Labor shortages are preventing the industry from growing and it’s putting ag producers in a pinch, according to two Nebraska ag leaders.  

Steve Martin is executive director with Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska (AFAN). “If you’re going to build a livestock facility, you have to have people there working in it and they have to be available 7-days a week and that’s a challenge for a lot of people,” Martin says. “If we can find labor savings to make either those hours in the barn easier or shorter than that’s what we need to do to fill those positions.”

Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue tells Brownfield it’s an industry-wide concern. “It’s an impediment to growing,” McHargue says. “I don’t think there is any great answers other than the people are out there and we just need to encourage them to get back to work.  I think wages are going up across the country and we’ve noticed that in our sector as well.” 

McHargue and Martin spoke with Brownfield during last week’s Nebraska Ag and Economic Summit in Kearney.