Agricultural employers face five compounding workforce challenges that industry leaders must address now or risk severe operational disruptions in the years ahead, according to a workforce strategy consultant who led the interactive Coop of Leaders session on April 15 at PEAK 2026 in Minneapolis.
Steve Olson, an agricultural strategy consultant, outlined the forces during his presentation and offered both data and strategic frameworks to help poultry and broader agriculture employers respond. Olson was clear that none of these forces are new — but their convergence is accelerating, and the window to act is narrowing.
1. Aging workforce and knowledge drain
The average age of U.S. farmers is 58, Olson noted, and retirements and other resignations — accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic — are pulling decades of institutional knowledge out of the industry.
Steve OlsonSteve Olson Consulting
"There are people that are, for whatever reason, leaving the workforce, and when they do that, there's a lot of knowledge that goes with them," he said.
That knowledge loss is not easily replaced through hiring alone, making documentation, mentorship, and succession planning increasingly urgent priorities for agricultural operations.
2. A shrinking labor pool
The problem with a loss of expertise and knowledge in the workplace is compounded by a shrinking labor pool.
Agriculture represents roughly 2% of the U.S. population, and the rural working-age population has declined 7% since 2010 — a trend Olson said shows no signs of reversing.
The poultry sector faces a steeper climb than other livestock segments because its integrator-based business model produces fewer family farm operations and the next-generation workers they tend to cultivate.
Dairy, hog, and beef operations, he noted, tend to have more family involvement, which creates a more natural pipeline of workers who grew up in and around the industry. Poultry employers, by contrast, must work harder and more intentionally to attract candidates from outside that pipeline.
3. Skills mismatch
Incoming workers often lack the technical competencies modern poultry operations require, as well as the critical thinking and problem-solving abilities employers expect on day one.
Olson said the gap is not just technical — it also involves workplace readiness and maturity.
He said he is working with the Centers of Excellence in Minnesota on a pilot program designed to embed those applied skills into college curricula before students enter the workforce, an approach he described as a proactive investment in the future talent pipeline rather than a reactive fix.
4. Seasonal and irregular work
Patterns of irregular work often deter candidates seeking stable, full-time employment and contribute directly to turnover.
Olson cited data showing 58% of poultry workers leave within 90 days of hire, with another 28% departing within six months — a turnover cycle that adds an estimated 4% in costs on top of recruiting, posting, and onboarding expenses.
Beyond the direct financial toll, high turnover forces remaining employees to absorb additional workloads, strains supervisors, and creates a cycle that is difficult to break without structural changes to how jobs are designed and communicated to prospective hires.
5. Supervisory and management gaps
Front-line supervisor quality consistently drives retention decisions, Olson said, and it is often the deciding factor in whether a new employee stays or leaves.
He described a conversation from the previous evening in which someone he knew had just left a job — not because of the work, but because of the supervisor.
Organizations must invest in developing leadership skills at every level, not just the top, Olson explained. That means equipping front-line supervisors with the communication, problem-solving, and coaching abilities they need to support those who report to them — and to position themselves for advancement into mid-management roles.
Additional thoughts
Addressing these five forces, Olson said, requires employers to examine their full talent lifecycle: attracting candidates, hiring with consistent practices, onboarding with a clear and structured plan, developing employees for expanded roles, and actively working to retain them. Each stage matters, and weakness in any one of them undermines the others.
Central to all of it, he argued, is organizational culture — and he was direct that culture is not what a company says it is, but what employees actually experience when they show up to work. New hires observe how supervisors behave, how decisions get made, and whether stated values are reflected in daily actions. If there is a gap between the two, workers notice quickly and act accordingly.
"The right person in the right culture stays, grows, and refers others like them," Olson said, framing current employees as the most underutilized recruiting asset most organizations have. Workers who are having a positive experience are more likely to recommend the employer to people in their personal networks — family, friends, and professional contacts — creating an organic recruitment channel that no job posting can replicate.
The ultimate goal, Olson said, is for agricultural employers to become the employer of choice in their markets — a status that requires intentional, sustained effort across every dimension of the workforce strategy he outlined.
During the session, attendees formed groups at tables throughout the room, and members of the groups discussed ways in which the five forces impacted their workplaces.
Prior to his consultancy work, Olson served as the chief executive of five poultry organizations, including the Midwest Poultry Federation, which hosted PEAK.
