Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s farm labour deficit is expected to double by 2029 to 123,000 workers, or one in three jobs, as shortages continue to hit the sector’s bottom line, the Canadian Agriculture Human Resource Council said on Tuesday. Farmers in Canada have long reported challenges in recruiting farm workers because the rural-based work […] Read more
Farm labour shortage seen costing billions, expected to rise
Ag tech tackles the next frontier — the people shortage on farms
The labour shortage has gone from problem to crisis — and that’s prompting a new tech revolution
Reading Time: 5 minutes Advances in farm equipment over the past 15 years have focused on one thing — allowing farmers to do more with less. Bigger equipment to cut the time when seeding and harvesting. GPS to minimize overlap. Precision tech to make every seed and input count. No till to capture snow and retain moisture (with less […] Read more
Farm workers can unionize — but don’t panic just yet
Ag minister says workers should have that right, but predicts ‘extremely low unionization rates’
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s business as usual on Kevin Serfas’s farm after the provincial NDP government tabled a bill that will give farm workers the right to unionize. “My initial response yesterday was shock and horror,” the Turin-area farmer said in an interview May 26. “But as I did a little more reading into it, I’m a bit […] Read more
Australia dumps ‘backpacker tax’ over farm, export concerns
Sydney | Reuters — Australia on Wednesday walked back from a planned tax hike on foreign travellers who work in the country, following concerns from farmers that their supply of “backpacker labour” at harvest times may dry up and undermine Australia’s ambitions of being Asia’s delicatessen. Australian fruit exports are set to hit a record […] Read more
Jobs minister ‘uninformed’ about ag labour crisis
MaryAnn Mihychuk says packers should step up recruiting, but there are 1,000 jobs that Canadians don’t want
Reading Time: 4 minutes The new federal jobs minister simply doesn’t understand the labour crisis faced by the country’s meat-packing industry, says the co-chair of an industry labour task force. Employment Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk says meat packers don’t need temporary foreign workers because there are tens of thousands of laid-off workers who could be recruited. “In the present circumstance, where […] Read more
Farm leaders say workers’ compensation coverage is a good thing
Mandatory enrolment could be announced this fall, but leaders say cost and paperwork won’t be onerous
Reading Time: 4 minutes Changes to farm safety regulations are expected soon — and that might not be a bad thing for Alberta farmers, says the president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture. “Workers’ compensation or private insurance really is a great risk management tool for farms nowadays,” said Lynn Jacobson. “That protection against litigation is one of the […] Read more
The devil is in the detail when it comes to workplace rules
Farms aren’t like other workplaces and regulations need to reflect that, say farm leaders
Reading Time: 2 minutes Doug Chorney has some advice for Alberta farmers who are nervous about upcoming changes to health and safety regulations: “Don’t be scared of having the conversation.” “You’re better off having the conversation with government rather than just waiting for regulations to come in without your input,” said Chorney, past president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, Manitoba’s […] Read more
India is a country of two agricultures
The nation is a world player in food, but full of contrasts and contradictions
Reading Time: 4 minutes My visit to India a few years ago covered a lot of agricultural ground — a 1,500-kilometre loop starting in Ludhiana and ending in New Delhi. Our team — nine young agricultural professionals from five countries — experienced a transportation strike, a hit-and-run, watched a car slide off the road and into the jungle, and […] Read more
Getting new workers off to a good start pays off for hog operation
The cost of a trainer and a five-week employee orientation is far less than having to continually replace workers, says HyLife official
Reading Time: 2 minutes Anyone running a hog operation of any scale today knows the value of labour. Richard Taillefer, director of sow and nursery production for HyLife, a large hog production operation headquartered in La Broquerie, Man., told delegates at the recent Banff Pork Seminar in actual dollar terms how much employee retention means to their company. HyLife, […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
