ASL103: Managing Performance is currently in session.
Stay tuned for more courses offered this June!
About the Agricultural Supervisory Leadership Certificate Program
Supervisors are critical to the success of farm businesses. They have a major impact both on employees’ daily work experiences and on the production performance of the business. The Agricultural Supervisory Leadership (ASL) certificate helps farm supervisors and managers learn and apply human resource management practices and leadership skills that foster rewarding workplaces and drive business results. Confident managers who thoughtfully apply leadership and management skills improve employee performance, develop teams, reduce employee turnover, and increase employee engagement. The courses within the certificate program will offer extensive practice and engagement activities to build confidence and skill sets.
Courses can be taken in any order and run six weeks. Cost is $275 per course.
ASL101 | Transition to Supervisor: Develop essential communication skills and manage conflict. Lead a multicultural team. Build an effective workplace culture. November 2024
ASL102 | Organizing Work for High-Quality Results: Create an efficient and high-performing workplace. Develop clear expectations and standard operating procedures. Delegate effectively. Diagnose and correct performance problems. March 2025
ASL103 | Managing Performance: Understand motivation. Harness the power of performance feedback and coaching. Build clear and effective workplace communications. Set safety expectations. Conduct effective performance improvements. March 2024
ASL104 | Staffing and Organizing Your Team: Develop job descriptions. Learn how to find potential employees, interview and select the right people. Implement new hire documentation, employment authorization, and onboarding: bringing new employees into the business successfully and productively. January 2025
ASL105 | Employee Development and Training: Identify training needs. Understand learning styles. Design and plan learning experiences that accommodate learner needs. Develop effective training skills and techniques. Evaluate learning results and training effectiveness. June 2024
ASL106 | Ethics and Employment Regulations: Implement responsible and ethical labor practices and understand why this matters for agriculture. Recognize and prevent sexual harassment. Understand and follow minimum wage and overtime laws. Implement Equal Employment Opportunity laws to prevent discrimination and harassment. Handle employee discipline and termination. January 2024
An email address is required to register and only one registration per email address may be submitted. Members of the same company or farm may not register online using the same email address. The email address used should be unique to the person attending as it is used the track payments and attendance across events. If you are registering on behalf of the person attending, you will have the option to enter your email to receive confirmation emails for the person attending.
Richard Stup, Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development Specialist
Elizabeth Higgins, Ag Business Management/Production Economics Extension Specialist with the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture team
Libby Eiholzer, Dairy Technical Specialist, Cargill
Kaitlyn Lutz, Bilingual Dairy Management Specialist
Bob Milligan, Cornell University Professor Emeritus
Thomas Maloney, Senior Extension Associate, Retired
Jay Canzonier, Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development Extension Support Specialist
Contact Rachel McCarthy, Supervisory Leadership Certificate Program Coordinator, at rachel.mccarthy@cornell.edu.
An interview with course developer Dr. Richard Stup, Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development Specialist
Why did you develop the certificate series?
My experience in working with farm managers over many years is that most are well trained and highly skilled in production but very few have received training in supervision and leadership. Many of the problems that managers face with leading people and teams have known solutions that can make the work experience better for managers and employees. We tested these concepts with working farm managers and found there was a very strong demand to help managers get better at daily leadership. We developed the Agricultural Supervisory Leadership certificate program to help managers be better at supervising, build stronger teams, create great places to work, and enjoy a more successful business.
What do you hope participants will gain?
I hope participants will gain practical tools that they can put in their supervisory skills toolbox. They can pull these tools out and use them to build a great workplace and solve problems. Ultimately, we want farm managers to be just as confident about their ability to lead people as they are about their ability to manage farm production. After all, farms these days are people businesses, you’ve got to be good with people to create the systems and processes to get work done effectively.
How do you see the program evolving/growing?
We are in the early stages of development the ASL program. I see the program growing considerably as we become more well known in New York and across the country. We’re also working on making the Agricultural Supervisory Leadership certificate available in Spanish so that we can better support the growing number of Spanish-speaking managers and owners.
