Graduate Student Literature Review: Challenges and opportunities for human resource management on dairy farms.

Dairy farms are increasing in size and moving from family to external labor. As such, dairy farmers now have the responsibilities of a human resource manager in addition to caring for their animals. The objective of this paper was to review literature in 5 areas of human resource management of a dairy farm: (1) professional accreditation and professional development, (2) extension activities, (3) the role of the advisor, (4) standard operating procedures, and (5) employee training. Although there has been an increase in research in this area in recent years, this review identified numerous areas for future research, including the relationships between farmers and their advisors and employees, and the role of standard operating procedures on dairy farms. In addition, we suggest that future studies could benefit from increased use of participatory research methods.