Pros
They used to have unlimited PTO. The farmers, team leads, and supervisors were good people. I made a lot of friends and cared deeply for my coworkers. They did hire a manager with experience in food production.
Cons
Bad management. Management viewed the Columbia farmers as bad children for a long time. They were stuck on metrics comparing us to the Charleston farm, without including all of the food safety measures in place at the Columbia farm that Charleston did not have in place. Management could not take any criticism unless it was decorated in glitter and had a bow on top. If you had a solution it was only listened to if it cost no money. Nearly all of management is out of their element as it is an agricultural production plant. I was hired with the statement that work hours were 7am-3:30pm with the occasional long day. Longer days were far more frequent than days we got out on time. They aren’t the only company doing this. There are a lot of hydroponic farms. They may be the only one at this current scale, but in their rush to get big, little problems in construction have become a major hinderance. Farmers have to push and push hard. You are an agricultural laborer at this job. They skirt a fine line to keep you as an agricultural laborer, because agricultural laborers have fewer rights. The nature of the work is far more production related than agricultural. They lacked PPE to protect from cold packrooms. After Christmas, they laid off about 15 people working for the construction arm of AmplifiedAg. This included the handyman for our farm. They had everyone come to work and told them there. Things started breaking a lot after the handyman was let go. Very high turnover.