farm workers Archives | Country Guide

“Good retention starts with good recruiting. The challenge is finding people who are willing to be there for the right reasons…”

Tapping into a new source of farm workers

Traditional labour supplies are running short. Why that may not be a bad thing

With farms getting bigger and with rural populations getting smaller, it’s no surprise you’re having trouble finding local employees with the farm skills and the experience you want. That doesn’t mean you have no options, however. The solution may be to look beyond candidates with ag experience and to begin to look in other sectors […] Read more

Guide Business, News, Succession strategy

Does Canada have enough young farmers?

The country has lost 70 per cent of the farmers in its under-35 category in just 25 years

By Lorraine Stevenson July 31, 2019

There are encouraging signs all across the country. At the University of Manitoba’s School of Agriculture convocation this spring, 58 graduates took home their two-year diplomas. At Ridgetown Campus of the University of Guelph in Ontario, 267 crossed the stage in late May, and at Olds College in Alberta, another 81 diplomas were handed out […] Read more

General, Machinery

Alberta extends deadline again for farm trucker training

By GFM Staff July 4, 2019

Alberta farmers who want the Class 1 license needed to drive commercial-scale tractor trailers but haven’t yet met the new training requirements can now apply for another extension to do so. The provincial transportation department on Friday announced further extensions are now available for farmers and farm workers seeking Class 1 licenses and for school […] Read more

The job vacancy rate in agriculture is now pegged at 5.4 per cent, much higher than the national average at just under 2.9 per cent.

Guide Business, News

More lost sales forecast in new labour market forecast study released June 25

Nearly half of Canada's farmers with jobs unfilled have delayed or cancelled farm business expansion plans

By Lorraine Stevenson June 28, 2019

Workforce challenges are having a worsening effect on farmers’ ability to meet their production and marketing goals and contribute to the economy according to new data published this week. Farms across the industry are poised for lost sales worth $2.9 billion in potential sales due to unfilled job vacancies, up from a previous forecast of […] Read more

Guide Business, Management

Who’s too old?

Farm families know that age diversity makes them stronger. But did you know that a spread of ages in your employees adds strength too?

By Angela Lovell October 31, 2017

Diversity in the workforce is a good thing, but diversity doesn’t mean just diversity of gender or ethnicity. It also means age diversity. Increasingly, older workers aren’t retiring gracefully to play golf and potter in the garden. Instead, they are making a conscious decision to change careers later in life, when the experience and skills […] Read more

Guide Business, Management

Is agriculture ageist?

We tend to respect our elders more in agriculture,” says Tracy Biernacki-Dusza. Even so, ageism is one of the last and most common areas of bias

By Angela Lovell October 31, 2017

More than four in 10 Canadians feel that ageism is the most tolerated form of social prejudice, according to the Revera Report on Ageism: Independence and Choice as We Age, released in May 2016 by Revera Inc. and the Sheridan Centre for Elder Research. This is more than double the number who rated racism or […] Read more

General

New Alberta labour standards for paid farm workers tabled

By Staff May 24, 2017

Waged farm workers in Alberta will be allowed to unionize and get new rules governing vacation pay and youth employment, under a provincial labour bill tabled Wednesday. The new rules are tucked into Bill 17, the Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act, which went through first reading Wednesday and, if passed, would take effect Jan. 1, […] Read more

General

Proposed labour rules for Alberta farms go public

By Staff March 6, 2017

The Alberta public will get about a month to speak its mind on proposed changes to provincial labour laws, with the goal of applying those changes to farms and ranches. The province on Monday released a pair of reports from technical working groups (TWGs) reviewing farm and ranch operations’ status under the Employment Standards Code […] Read more

Crops, Reuters

California first state to promise overtime to farmworkers

By Reuters September 12, 2016

Sacramento | Reuters — California will become the first U.S. state to require farmers to pay overtime to field workers and fruit pickers under a bill signed Monday by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. The bill would phase in overtime pay for farmworkers from 2019 to 2022. In an industry where a workweek during the harvest […] Read more

I married an engineer but it turns out he’s a farmer,” says Kristi Burns, here with Dustin. Happily, when his parents had set up the family farm, it was with exactly such an eventuality in mind.

Guide Business

A farm for all

For the Burns family, the goal has always been a farm with a place for the entire family. Now it’s the reality too

By Angela Lovell August 17, 2016

John Burns had spent eight years getting a PhD in chemistry and two years working at the Department of National Defence in Kingston, Ont., but his Saskatchewan farm roots began to beckon and he jumped at the chance to get out of the lab and do some off-campus teaching, which led him to the area […] Read more

ICE weekly outlook: Canola trade’s eyes on StatsCan report

U.S. grains: Soybeans up on yield uncertainty

U.S. livestock: CME cattle rise on strong beef demand

GFM Network News