Moes is the dean of agriculture and environment at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon.
Advanced job skills are at a premium in every sector of the Canadian economy, but nowhere more so than in agriculture.
In November, stakeholders from every commodity group and region in the country will meet in Ottawa to decide whether or not to create an Agriculture Human Resources Sector Council. But what is really at stake?
The explosion of global competition, along with the changing expectations of producers, consumers and employees, has transformed the environment in which Canadian businesses operate.
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Canada’s competitive advantage is being eroded by the emergence of economic powerhouses such as China, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, whose producers are aggressively driving down the price of commodities, in part through low labour costs. Nowhere is that more true than in Canada’s agriculture industry.
As Canadian farms place more emphasis on efficiency with every passing season, the key to keeping our competitive edge is to address human resources and employment challenges, and strengthen the productivity, skills, knowledge and expertise of our workforce. In a sector as broad and diverse as agriculture, however, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.
To make matters even more challenging, the agriculture workforce is shrinking and aging and fewer workers are available to meet the demands of the industry.
Having recognized that this is a problem common to all commodity groups and regions in the industry, many Canadian farmers are seeing that human resources employment challenges are widespread, and that an industry-wide strategy to help address common labour force issues is needed.
So how do we do this? What tools can farmers use to improve the situation?
The answer may lie in the adoption of a Human Resources Sector Council for agriculture. Such councils are industry driven, government-funded associations where a representative group of employers, employees, governments and educational institutions work to strengthen a workforce.
So far, 30 sectors in the Canadian economy have obtained support from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada to create such councils, because the government of Canada recognizes that keeping Canada competitive in the global marketplace requires partnerships between industry and government.
Some industries, such as tourism and fish harvesting, have used their councils as a mechanism to address longstanding human resource challenges and have gone a long way toward providing their industries with better access to highly skilled employees. The agriculture sector has no venue within which to pursue similar objectives.
In February 2004, representatives from a range of farm organizations across Canada, along with partners in government and the education sector, came together to assess the need for, and the feasibility of, an Agriculture Human Resources Sector Council. They represented virtually every region and every facet of primary agriculture, from crops and livestock to horticulture and nursery.
These representatives formed a steering committee and commissioned three independent research projects: a scan of literature on human resource issues in agriculture, in Canada and internationally; surveys of Canadian agriculture employers and employees; and focus group meetings to hear from producers across the country.
Three of their findings are of particular concern.
First, confirming what most farmers already know, researchers found that the farm industry’s workforce is aging and declining rapidly. A survey of employees and employers conducted by GPC Research found that more than half of the workers in the agriculture industry are between the ages of 35 and 54.
This situation is leading to a serious shortage of appropriately skilled agriculture labour. Left unchecked, this trend could threaten the sustainability of the agricultural industry in Canada.
Second, both employers and employees have concerns about the impact of the Canadian public’s perception of the farm industry – a phenomenon that is seen around the world.
A lot of emphasis, for instance, appears to be placed on the image of farm workers as overworked and underpaid. This narrow view of the industry makes it increasingly difficult to attract new workers, illustrated by the fact that only 17 percent of employees who responded to the survey had joined the industry within the last two years.
The problem is so acute that the focus groups revealed producers were at a loss as to how to address this problem with their current resources.
Finally, the studies suggested that a training or skills development culture is lacking on Canada’s farms. Many employees, in fact, admit that they don’t see the career paths available to them. This perception is supported by employers, who say it is difficult to explain what opportunities are available to potential employees.
Interestingly enough, initial discussions with producers have revealed they are interested in creating a forum that would focus issues such as developing recruitment strategies, working with government on employment and immigration policies, facilitating the retention of appropriately skilled labour, working to improve the industry’s public image, or building a culture of training and skills development.
A Human Resource Sector Council could, in fact, provide the agriculture industry with just such a forum.
With that in mind, stakeholders will be asked whether or not to create an Agriculture Human Resources Sector Council in Ottawa this November.
The opportunity is there for us to seize: by adopting the tools we need to find industry-driven solutions to the human resource and employment challenges that we face today, we can prepare our sector and its workforce for tougher global competition tomorrow.
