An industry steering group has released an agricultural labour strategy it hopes will lead to a comprehensive plan for a stable workforce. The critical shortage of workers in both primary agriculture and food and beverage manufacturing was well known before the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated over the last two years. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource […] Read more
Tag Archives labour — page 3
Alberta farm workers gain the right to unionize: what happens now?
Provincial government’s Fair and Family friendly Workplaces Act will affect non-family paid workers on farms and ranches
Farm workers in Alberta will have the option to unionize once new provincial government labour legislation is passed. Labour minister Christina Gray announced amendments May 24 to the labour relations code and the employment standards code, dubbed the Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act. The amendments reach into all employment sectors in the province and some […] Read more
Ag labour shortage getting worse
Agriculture has the highest job vacancy rate of any industry in Canada, and that labour shortfall may soon become much larger. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) released results of a labour market information survey of primary agriculture March 15 in Winnipeg. The CAHRC report, based on data from 2014, indicates the gap between […] Read more
Mexican ambassador prefers seasonal ag workers program
WINDSOR, Ont. — The Canadian government’s approach to temporary foreign workers provides an avenue for illegal immigration, according to Mexico’s ambassador to Canada. Franciso Suárez Dávila said the long-standing Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program is better. Unlike the “low-skilled” stream of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, SAWP is an arrangement between two governments that provides protections […] Read more
Ag businesses say foreign workers needed
Cal Penner noticed about a decade ago that it was getting harder to retain employees at his hog farm northwest of Winnipeg. The young men who worked briefly for Penner left for a variety of reasons. Some didn’t like the dust inside the barns. Others didn’t care for the smell. One employee, though, had a […] Read more
The farm labour mismatch
Ag employment trends downward | Farmers have a tough time finding skilled workers
Farmers say there is a shortage of farm labourers. Economists say it’s less a labour shortage than a matter of distribution and demand. Agricultural human resources people say farmers and economists are both right and plan to figure out how those views fit together. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council (CAHRC) has launched a three-year, […] Read more
