Giving workers a slice of the pie has proven to increase production and solve labor shortages — can it be replicated in other sectors of agriculture?
Vineyard Manager Ruben Solarzano decided to try an experiment with his workers at Stolpman Vineyards in Los Olivos, California. He gave his crew of 15 a two-acre plot of vines to completely manage by themselves.
Though Solarzano was always happy to answer questions or offer advice when asked, the crew made every farming decision on the block. The employees did not earn extra income from the project, but they did become far more engaged in their work. “Ruben saw an immediate difference,” said partner Peter Stolpman, who took over operations from his father Tom in 2009. “The crew not only took way more pride but became more engaged about the entire vineyard.”
Two years after starting this worker-managed project, Solarzano’s boss Tom Stolpman was lamenting that they were the only two employees drinking the wine (versus tequila) at a company barbecue. Solarzano decided it was time to tell Tom about the initiative and offered an idea — what if we made wine from that block as a gift for the workers who tend to those grapes?
In 2003, Stolpman bottled its first vintage of La Cuadrilla, named after the Spanish word for the small block run by the workers. That year, they produced 300 cases of wine as a gift to the 15 full-time employees — far too much wine for them to consume with friends and family. The next vintage, Tom and Solorzano decided to split up those cases, giving some to the employees to drink and selling the rest to fund a cash bonus. Two decades later, what started as a small year-end bonus has since morphed into a full-on profit-share that returns 10% of all the company’s profits back to its farming team.
Profit-sharing is still far from the norm in the wine industry — and agriculture, generally — a sector that is notoriously asset-heavy, cash-poor, and has long relied on a low-paid migrant workforce to turn a profit or just break even. It can be challenging for many wineries to implement; however, various forms of the profit-share concept have been on the rise among enterprising companies that have the available resources — and will — to share dividends with their workers.
Crop share leases with hay and grains, like corn and wheat, where the landowners and tenants split farming expenses and profits, have existed for decades. And employee stock ownership plans have been slowly growing among diversified vegetable farms. But profit sharing seems to be particularly taking off in wineries, giving other agriculture sectors a potential model to look toward.
Studies have consistently shown that employee-share ownership plans tend to garner more loyalty and longevity as well as increased yields.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
An interesting concept in agricultural circles. As the article points out, crop sharing leases and stock ownership plans have been around for a while, but actual profit sharing is just coming into its own. Agriculture, in all of its many forms, has long struggled with attracting and keeping qualified employees. Profit sharing seems to better incentivize those workers and, according to this report, increases productivity as well. We can all appreciate, if productivity gains outpace the additional expense, it can be a real viable option. Don’t worry, however, the farm/ranch owners will still have plenty of money to purchase or lease qualified vehicles from CAD members. Thus, make sure your inventory is posted proudly on AgTruckTrader.com.
