On the front line

Field representatives are the eyes and ears of a co-op

By Catherine Merlo

Editor’s note: Merlo is a Bakersfield,
Calif., based freelance writer and editor
who is a frequent contributor to this and
other co-op publications.


n any given day, Bill Van Skike’s office might be a California cotton field, a coffee shop or even the hood of his silver Dodge Durango, miles from the headquarters of California Planting Cotton Seed Distributors (CPCSD), his employer.

Larry Seamans regularly reports to work for Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers at a dairy barn or milk hauler’s station.

It’s not unusual for Land O’Lakes’ Ray Cherry and one of his field staff to meet at the kitchen table of a Minnesota dairy producer.

Each of these men is a field representative for an agricultural cooperative, a role that’s vital as “the liaison between management and member,” according to Dave Baker, director of member relations for Blue Diamond Growers, the almond co-op based in Sacramento, Calif.

Although their specific responsibilities vary from co-op to co-op, field representatives share common responsibilities. They answer members’ questions, provide information and nurture relationships for the organization and owners they serve. They are the eyes and ears of a cooperative, a primary communications link and the “go-to” source for members. They deliver good news and bad, take the heat during tough times, and frequently form genuine friendships with co-op members. They work on salary without commission and often are part-time or former farmers themselves.

“We take the business of the co-op to the growers, and the business of the growers to the co-op,” says Tom Burlando, a field representative for Diamond of California, the Stocktonbased walnut co-op.

Connecting with grower-members
Everyone interviewed for this article agreed that successful field representatives for a farmer-owned organization must have, and show, enthusiasm for the co-op and agriculture in general. Personal integrity is also paramount. Straight shooters make the most successful field reps.

“I find more and more that if I don’t have a good feeling about the field representative, I don’t have a good feeling about the co-op,” says Richard Stadden, a cotton grower from Tulare, Calif., who belongs to two co-ops and serves on the board of one. “A member has to have confidence in the field rep, who not only needs to know the nuts and bolts of the co-op but have real enthusiasm for it.”

A background in agriculture, biology even finance helps co-op field representatives provide expert service to members. But personality may count most of all.

“I can teach a person what he or she needs to know about the co-op and the industry,” says Van Skike, who is also president of the 1,600-member CPCSD. “But I can’t give them the personality that farmers will relate to.”

“Personality is extremely important,” says Cherry, director of Land O’Lakes’ Midwest Milk Supply Division. Cherry supervises 17 field representatives and four procurement managers for 2,000 Land O’Lakes’ dairy members in the Midwest.

“You have to be able to express empathy,” Cherry says. “You’ve got to be able to deliver a strong, succinct message to people you truly like to work with, especially when it’s bad news.”

Seamans, Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers field rep, agrees. “You’ve got to be able to handle any situation without taking things personally,” he says.

Personality includes not only discretion and diplomacy but self-motivation as well.

“There’s a lot of flexibility and freedom in the job,” says Jeff Bitter, vice president with Allied Grape Growers, a 500-member co-op based in Fresno, Calif. Bitter oversees the co-op’s fourmember field staff. “A field representative needs to be active in the grower community, to regularly provide new information and insight, to take the initiative to gather information from buyers.”

Necessary knowledge
Soliciting new memberships, keeping farmer-members informed on state and federal regulations and reporting on marketing conditions are part of the field representative’s responsibilities. Knowledge of farming and cultural practices is important, too. Many field representatives are actively involved in helping improve their members’ quality and yield, lower their production costs and share best-management practices.

For example, dairy producers can earn a quality premium for meeting strict milk standards. In some cases, the premium can bring a producer an extra $4,000 each month. For both Seamans and Cherry it’s part of the job to monitor members’ milk quality and to help them achieve the premium.

“My job involves helping our producers find their weak points and improve their practices to help them be successful,” says Seamans, who was a Virginia dairy producer for 17 years before he was hired by Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers.

The five field representatives who serve the 2,000 members of Diamond of California must “know everything about walnuts,” Burlando says.

“It used to be that growers farmed from the boots up,” says Burlando, who holds a master’s degree in plant pathology. “Now, in addition to knowing about varieties, pests, disease and weather, it’s become more and more important to know about soil health and maintenance, as well as cover crops.”

“You have to understand the grower’s perspective,” says Mark Sorensen, part of the grower relations department for Sun-Maid Growers of California, a raisin co-op. “That’s easy for me to do.”

A fourth-generation Fresno-area farmer and Sun-Maid member, Sorensen was recruited to become a field representative for the co-op two years ago.

“If you know what you’re talking about as far as growing practices, growers will trust you,” Sorensen says. “When I talk to growers about pruning or harvesting, I tell them how I’m doing it on my farm. It relieves them that I know how to do it.”

Tools of the trade
Because the job’s flexible nature often takes a field representative far from the cooperative’s offices, his or her most valuable tools may be a cellular phone or laptop computer.

“Farmers don’t clock in at 8 a.m. or out at 5 p.m.,” Van Skike says. “There’s no off-time for them, and that means there’s no off-time for us. My cell phone is the first thing I turn on each morning and the last thing I turn off at night.

“The No. 1 issue is communications,” he adds. “Nothing is more important. If a grower has a question or problem, we get back to them right away. And if we don’t know the answer, we don’t beat around the bush. We let them know we’ll get back to them with an answer as soon as we know it.”

Says Seamans, “Every one of our members knows he can call me at 1 a.m., if necessary. We’re on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Still, the latest in high-tech tools can’t replace face-to-face contact with members.

“We try to spend time in our members’ world,” says Sun-Maid’s Sorensen. “Meeting in vineyards or coffee shops is part of that world.”

“Coffee shops are a valid meeting place because they’re informal,” agrees Van Skike. “Growers are open to talk about what’s really on their minds. Sometimes, coffee shops offer better quality time than at meetings, which are more structured.”

How often field representatives meet with their members varies.

“Some members need more contact than others, while others are comfortable with an annual visit,” says Burlando, who has 550 grower accounts while also serving as a plant manager for Diamond’s walnut receiving and processing plant in Linden.

Sun-Maid has 1,200 members and five field representatives. “Our goal is to visit every grower at least once a year,” Sorensen says.

Most also use co-op meetings and industry functions as opportunities to visit with their members.

The downside
Like any occupation, a co-op field representative’s job has its downside. Member problems with crop or milk quality, payments or shipments can cause difficulties for field representatives. Agriculture’s economic troubles, competitor-driven rumors and the tragedies of life can also weigh heavily on the relationship-based job.

“It’s been very hard watching the anguish and hardships that have been occurring over the past 20 months,” says Cherry. “The worst part has been watching farmers losing their farms, and that’s been occurring on a daily basis.”

“The hardest part is getting tangled in their lives,” Burlando says. “There might be a death in the family, a bad business decision or an economic challenge. You work through their grief with them.”

Co-op field representatives sometimes find themselves walking a fine line in serving members.

“Occasionally, a member will want special treatment,” Van Skike says. “If it’s a small request, you try to accom- modate that. But sometimes, those requests are not in the best interest of the membership or of fairness. You have to handle that as politely as possible. You’ve got to learn to say ‘no.’ I’ve found it’s best to handle it right then and there.”

Rewards
But there are rewards that come with the job. Not long after a neighboring dairy cooperative merged with Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers, Seamans called for the first time on one of the newly merged members.

“The dairy producer was about 60 years old and he told me he had never made a quality premium before,” says Seamans. “We found his weak points and fixed them. He’s now made the quality premium for 12 months straight. That’s rewarding to me.”

Blue Diamond’s Baker says he is rewarded when “a grower gets out of the co-op, several years pass, and then he comes back to the co-op.” In the end, field representatives agree that theirs is a job of building relationships, and that takes time.

“It’s not the first or the third or the 10th visit that builds the relationship but all the visits,” says Burlando. “All relationships, whether they’re personal or professional, are built that way. You have to find out how to satisfy a person’s needs and how to tailor each relationship.”

CPCSD’s Van Skike agrees. “The more and the longer you’re out there, the better your relationship,” he says.

“If you can earn your members’ trust,” says Sun-Maid’s Sorensen, “most of the battle is done. The bottom line is that if we don’t have happy growers, we lose them. They’re the basic unit of the co-op, and without the crop they supply, nobody has a job. That’s why field representatives are extremely important to the co-op they serve.”

























Successful practices of cooperative field representatives