Stop Managing the Work, Start Leading Your People
HR Consulting for High-Performance Farms
Our human resources coaching bridges the gap between daily farming and professional leadership, giving you the systems, frameworks, and confidence to manage like the CEO your farm needs you to be.
You Have Employee Problems—We Have Solutions
In agriculture, “HR” often sounds like corporate jargon, something that belongs in an office building, not a grain bin. You might not think you have an HR department, but if your family struggles to communicate effectively, if you’re losing good people to competitors down the road, or if you’ve never had a real compensation structure in place, you are facing human resources challenges.
Our Approach to HR Coaching
Retaining good people starts long before someone gives notice. The team at UnCommon Farms helps you define roles, structure compensation, develop hiring strategies, and build a culture where employees see your operation as a long-term career — not just a stop along the way. You get practical guidance, built around the way your farm actually operates.
Empowering the Farmer as CEO
We are not your outsourced back-office HR department. Our job isn’t to do the hard work of people management for you. Our job is to make sure you never feel unprepared when you have to do it yourself.
We’ll help you develop the right interview questions. We’ll help you structure a competitive compensation plan. We’ll walk you through how to handle a difficult employee conversation. But when it’s time to sit across the table and make the call, you’re the one in that room because you’re the leader. We equip you to lead with clarity and confidence so you can keep complete control of your operation.
Start Evaluating Your Team Today
Equipping yourself with the right tools to assess your team’s performance is the first step toward building a workforce that runs without you looking over everyone’s shoulder.
The 4 Pillars for Building Your Team’s Foundation
Because the word “HR” means different things to different people, we want to be direct about what your dedicated coach actually helps you accomplish. As a member, your HR coaching covers four core objectives:
Defining Roles
Unclear expectations are the root of most workplace conflicts. We help you clarify responsibilities across your operation, eliminating the bottlenecks and frustrations that come from people not knowing where their job ends and someone else’s begins.
Recruiting Talent
The ag labor market is competitive, and finding reliable, skilled workers doesn’t happen by accident. We help you sharpen your recruiting strategy, develop job descriptions that attract the right candidates, and build a hiring process that brings high-quality people to your door.
Retaining Workers
Getting great employees isn’t enough. You have to give them a reason to stay. We help you structure competitive compensation packages, bonuses, and perks that build loyalty and position your farm as a long-term career destination, not just a paycheck.
Ensuring Compliance
HR regulations can be complex, and the cost of getting them wrong is steep. We help you develop the policies, procedures, and employee handbook your farm needs to stay compliant, protect your operation, and establish clear expectations for everyone on your team.
Build a Team That Protects Your Legacy
The people who work your land are as important to your farm’s future as the land itself. Step out of the daily grind of managing tasks and become the leader your team needs and the CEO your operation demands.
HR Doesn't Happen in a Vacuum
Because HR Coaching is an integrated component of your UnCommon Farms Membership, your HR coach works in direct collaboration with your financial and succession coaches. That means your compensation strategy is built around your real profitability. Your hiring plan reflects your long-term legacy goals. And every decision you make is grounded in the full picture of your operation, not just one piece of it.
That’s the difference between advice and a plan you can actually execute.
See Where Your HR Practices Stand
Not sure where to start? Take the HR Self-Assessment to evaluate your current practices and discover exactly where an HR coach can help you close the gaps.
Member Case Study: Attracting and Retaining Employees
HR challenges on working farms aren’t just theoretical. They’re the conversations that happen in truck cabs, at the kitchen table, and on the shop floor every day. UnCommon Farms has walked alongside operations navigating exactly these moments.
A member farm was struggling with high turnover and an inconsistent employee experience that made it difficult to attract reliable talent. Working with their UnCommon Farms HR coach, the operation built a structured onboarding process, developed a competitive compensation framework, and clarified roles across the team. The result: improved retention, a stronger team culture, and employees who saw the farm as a place to build a career.
Start Evaluating Your Team Today
Equipping yourself with the right tools to assess your team’s performance is the first step toward building a workforce that runs without you looking over everyone’s shoulder.
More Than Coaching: A Complete Business Advantage
Membership in UnCommon Farms extends beyond your coaching relationship. These are the exclusive resources and benefits that come with being part of the community.
Strategic Industry Partners
The Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Exclusive Training & Webinars
Farm Success Stories
UnCommon Farms has helped us understand and manage a scaling business that is sustainable into the future all the way to succession planning. Figuring out education pieces for our employees and our team. Areas of continuous improvement.
Kyle Mehmen
MBS Family Farms
I think we know what the end goal is now more than we ever have. I think we understand what it’s going to take to get there, and we have plans we’re putting into place that will allow us to accomplish our goals as a family—of growing and bringing back the next generation.
Larna Fidler
Schnitker Farms
UnCommon Farms gives the older generation confidence in the younger generation’s management, and I think it makes that transition easier for the older generation.
Rich Bronec
R&R Bronec Grain and Cattle
We needed to change the way we ran our business. Instead of working in the business more, we had to work on it. If you have the next generation coming along and you’ve always just been the operator or the patriarch of the farm, being part of UnCommon Farms has so many benefits. There’s not only the resources; there’s the networking, there’s peer-to-peer conversations you can have. There’s a way to better your business.
Joel Abeln
Abeln Farms
We’re into this for four years now, and I’ll be honest, I’m more excited now than I was at the beginning… The more you put into it, the more you get out. The more you commit to it, the more that you follow, the bigger connections you make… I think it helps us take our operation to the next level.
Robert Ensor
Ensor Brothers Farms
With UnCommon Farms, we have these connections to other farmers and other communities who we can rely on to share those experiences and those learning moments, so we don’t have to make those mistakes the first time around.
Emma Purvis
E&H Farms
HR Coaching FAQ
Is this an HR department, or is it coaching?
It’s coaching, not outsourced HR. We don’t manage your employees for you, process your payroll, or run your hiring. Our job is to give you the frameworks, strategies, and accountability to handle those things yourself, confidently and professionally. We’ll help you develop the interview questions. You ask them.
What if I don't think I have an "HR problem"?
You might not use the word “HR,” but if you’ve ever lost a good employee you couldn’t afford to lose, struggled to define who’s responsible for what, or avoided a hard conversation with a team member because you didn’t know how to handle it, you’re already dealing with HR challenges. We just give them a name and a solution.
Does HR Coaching cost extra, or is it part of membership?
HR coaching is a fully integrated component of your membership, not an add-on. It’s built into the membership because people problems don’t exist in a vacuum. Your HR coach works alongside your financial and succession coaches so that every people decision connects back to the full picture of your operation.
What kinds of things will my HR coach actually help me with?
Role definition, compensation structure, recruiting strategy, interview frameworks, employee retention, performance management, compliance, and policy development, among others. The focus is always on giving you practical tools you can implement, not theory you’ll never use.
Do I need to have employees already, or is this for operations that are growing?
Both. If you already have a team, we help you professionalize the way you manage and retain them. If you’re scaling and preparing to hire, we help you build the right foundation before the first offer letter goes out so you attract the right people from day one.
How is this different from hiring an HR consultant on my own?
A standalone HR consultant gives you advice in isolation. They don’t know your financials, your succession plan, or your long-term goals for the operation. At UnCommon Farms, your HR coach is part of an integrated team, which means your people strategy is always aligned with where your farm is headed financially and generationally.
UnCommon Farms Are Built by UnCommon Teams
Most farm operators rely on the same common playbook when it comes to managing people and get frustrated when they get the same common results. Building something that lasts takes a different approach: the right frameworks, the right coaching, and the willingness to lead differently. Apply for membership today to start taking an UnCommon approach.