Finding enough people to work on farms is an international problem that is likely to get worse, says the executive director of the Poultry Industry Council of Ontario.”You are not alone,” Tim Nelson told the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council’s annual meeting in Calgary June 16.Australia, England and the United States also struggle to find qualified people, he said. An agricultural human resource council survey on farm employment found that 336,200 people worked on Canadian farms in 2008. Employers in primary agriculture said they expect to employ an additional 50,000 non-seasonal and 38,000 seasonal workers by 2012. Staff needs include technical, trade and supervisory roles as well as general farm workers.Nelson said it might be time to change attitudes about workers on Canadian farms. Employees here must have the skills to work in highly mechanized operations with a lot of technology, a far cry from a Chinese farm labourer with a hoe who earns 40 cents per hour.Foreign workers have filled the gap for some farms, but they need nurturing to encourage them to stay. “Why not put money into making people better managers to manage the people who are coming in to work for us,” Nelson said.Pierre Lemieux of the Union des producteurs agricoles in Quebec said temporary workers permits should be extended to encourage people to stay in Canada. “Once they are integrated, they will speak for us. They will promote agriculture with our producers,” he said. As a former employer of five workers on a dairy farm near Wainwright, Alta., outgoing council chair Terry Murray said a farm owner must think about leadership, finances and human resources. A good boss encourages staff to be successful in the job and the community so that the farm is an attractive place to work. Wages remain an issue. Farmers told the council survey that they struggled to match better wages offered in other sectors. However, Nelson said it is unreasonable to expect a farm manager to run a multimillion-dollar enterprise for a lower than average management wage.”We have got to be realistic. You don’t want a $45,000 a year employee running a multimillion-dollar investment,” he said. The 2009 Alberta wage and salary survey found farm manager wages were $12 to $33 per hour with the average of $21 per hour. Aging and retiring workers are another issue, said Jim Knight, president of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. “Canada is facing a demographic wall. This has enormous consequences for all Canadian employment sectors,” he said. Compared to the rest of Canada, Alberta had the lowest proportion of workers older than 45. However, 67.5 percent of Albertans employed in the agriculture industry were older than 45.
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