Ag Assist Makes A Difference for Blake and Selene
Blake and Selene Harvie – Dunsandel
Ag Assist has #madeadifference to Blake and Selene Harvie’s sharemilking operation in Dunsandel.
Casual staff availability and labour shortages in seasonal farming peaks continue to pose issues within the agricultural sector. “When you’re running a small team and one staff member requests annual leave on another person’s rostered day off, it can be hard to approve the leave,” said Blake. The Ag Assist portal helped Blake and Selene connect to an available and willing supply of workers. Through the platform they found a relief milker to help fill labour gaps they were experiencing on farm.
The Ag Assist platform was designed to connect farmers to a supply of workers that can seamlessly fit in to their current farming schedule. Blake previously found it difficult sourcing casual or part time workers to help on farm when and where he required. “Another full time labour unit is 2200 hours, we only need 500-1000 hours, but that can be difficult to cover”. By uploading jobs onto the portal, he found casual workers that were available to work only when he needed them. Someone that slotted in to fill the gaps in his current team of workers.
Blake and Selene use the platform to source workers for a range of jobs. From an extra yard hand, to more qualified employees and relief milkers. Our worker profiles and rating system means, that when looking to employ a worker, you can see where their experience lies and how they have performed in previous jobs found through Ag Assist. Creating ease when matching workers and their skill level to the farm jobs that need to get done!
The Ag Assist competitive advantage is that approved workers are not only already in NZ, but also based in the region of your advertised work. Selene says, “The last job I advertised on Farm Source I had 120 applicants, half of which were living overseas and not even eligible.” Using our platform decreases the hassle of filtering through applicants that aren’t suitable or eligible for the role.
Ag Assist CEO Tony Dodunski explains that, “the ultimate goal is smoothing out the supply and demand curves.” Workers can make a profile and list their skills and hourly rate before browsing jobs uploaded by farmers. Farmers can post jobs and filter through applicants based on job type, skill level and location before contacting them directly through the portal. To analyse the soft skills that are crucial for workers and employers when functioning as part of a farming team, both parties can rate and add comments on their experience which then become visible to all other employers and employees on the app.
If you are seeking work or looking to #makeadifference to your current employee roster just like Blake and Selene, log in or sign up to the Ag Assist portal now!
Click below to read the original Dairy Exporter Article on Blake and Selene!
