Labour is a big part of the economics of producing food, and just as with other businesses, farmers often need to hire extra people outside of their families to help get everything done. Technology and equipment are helping to make some work easier, but people are still the most important part of producing food on the farm. Farm jobs aren’t like most other jobs. Cows have to be milked every day; pigs, poultry and other farm animals need to be fed; and crops have to be harvested. Fruits and vegetables in particular have to be harvested when they are ripe, or else they’ll lose their taste and quality, or at worst, just rot in the field or on the vine. That challenge means that farmers and farm employees don’t work a traditional eight-hour work day. Like other essential workers in our society, they’ll work evenings, nights, and weekends, in all kinds of weather conditions to make sure that their animals and crops are taken care of.
