Andrew McClelland
The Advocate
Every farmer has a story about how difficult it is to find someone to help out on the farm.
You’re a dairy producer who wants to take a short vacation? Good luck finding a relief milker. Or, maybe you actually want a full-time hired hand? It can be nearly impossible to find someone reliable who is less than an hour’s drive away.
Now here’s the bad news. Attracting employees – and keeping them – is going to get harder, according to a recent study conducted by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, a non-profit focused on addressing human resource issues facing farm businesses across Canada.
Blame the COVID-19 pandemic or the mass retirement of Baby Boomers, there are a lot of factors leading to Canada’s farm labour crisis.
“There are 500,000 fewer Gen Xers in Canada than there were Baby Boomers,” said Phyllis MacCallum, senior program manager at Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC). “How are we going to fill that gap? It’s just something happening in the economy generally.”
MacCallum explained the findings of her research during a QFA videoconference on the topic of agriculture labour shortages held March 21. According to her, the fact that small farms often get consolidated into larger operations and that producers are aging has exacerbated the labour shortage in agriculture.
Farmers older than average
“The average age in Canada is 45 right now,” MacCallum explained. “But the average age of a Canadian ag producer is hovering between 56 and 58. We’re getting to the point where the entire Baby Boom generation is at retirement age. Combine that with farms consolidating and families not being ready for succession, and it becomes very difficult to manage.”
In 2022 alone, the agriculture sector reported a peak worker vacancy rate of nearly 7.5 per cent. That’s 25-per-cent higher than the national average. CAHRC estimates that accounts for a whopping loss of $3.5 billion in potential sales for Canada’s farm industry.
“We’re expecting over 30 per cent of the current ag workforce to retire by 2030,” MacCallum said. “That would be about 85,000 positions – and that will cause a significant challenge for the sector.”
The quickest and most obvious solution for many in the industry has been the hiring of temporary foreign workers. More than 21,500 foreign workers were employed in Quebec agriculture in 2022, which accounted for around 22 per cent of the sector’s workforce – a relatively higher share than most other provinces.
7,800 unfilled jobs in Quebec ag sector
“And even with Quebec’s reliance on temporary foreign workers, Quebec ag still had an estimated 7,800 positions that went unfilled at peak season in 2022,” MacCallum said.
Temporary foreign workers are most present in Quebec in the fruit, vegetable, greenhouse and nursery production sectors, with their seasonal nature and need for numerous hands at key moments. For most owner-operators, the program has been a lifesaver.
“Most placements of foreign workers are hugely successful,” MacCallum said. “And we have to remember that the ‘temporary foreign worker’ is filling the long-term labour gap. If things work well, this worker will be here on his work visa for two years, he’ll go home on vacation when necessary, and then the producer will renew his visa for two more years. He’s temporary on a long-term basis.”
But CAHRC has more ideas on how to revive the Canadian agricultural industry than hiring temporary workers. MacCallum and her fellow researchers believe that addressing issues with the perception and awareness of Canada’s farm industry can attract more workers.
People don’t know of opportunities
“We’re doing a lot of work at high schools and colleges to inform students about what the opportunities are and what your career path can look like in the ag industry – most of them simply don’t know!” she said. “It’s also important that we talk to those looking to change careers, those looking to build a new skill set about what the opportunities could be in the ag space.”
The CAHRC is also doing research into other areas in the aim of identifying ways to make agriculture a more attractive work environment. Improving the workplace culture of farming is a big part of that, as is skill development in the wake of automation and technology.
MacCallum is optimistic in building an agricultural workforce, recognizing that at some level, farming will always be work for people who like to get their hands dirty.
“This is still manual, physical work,” she said. “Ag producers do jobs that get them in the dirt. We need folks who do those jobs – that’s the simple reality of the situation. There’s so much opportunity in the ag sector that pretty much every interest can find an ag job.”