Reading Time: 2 minutes Toronto/Ottawa | Reuters — Ontario has started testing about 8,000 migrant farm workers for COVID-19 in a hard-hit rural region of the province after two young workers died and the coronavirus was found on at least 17 farms, according to the local public health authority. The Ontario outbreak has centred on farms in the Windsor-Essex […] Read more
COVID-19 cases, deaths lead Ontario to test migrant farm workers
New pilot program for agri-food labour welcomed
Meat processors, greenhouse and mushroom growers, livestock producers get first crack at program
Reading Time: 4 minutes Ottawa — Federal officials hope a new pilot program will help stabilize ongoing labour issues in certain sectors of the agri-food value chain, while also providing citizenship to some foreign workers. Critics, however, contend more support is needed. “This pilot will help to ensure that farmers and processors have the much-needed skills, experience and labour […] Read more
Sollio outlines pandemic recovery plan for food sector
Support sought for automation, digitization, telecommunications
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa — One of Canada’s largest agri-food companies has laid out a five-point industry recovery plan for federal politicians to consider. During a meeting Tuesday of the Commons standing committee on finance, the president of Quebec-based Sollio Co-operative Group shared plans to limit consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agrifood supply chain. Sollio employs […] Read more
Labour shortages persist, hort sector says
Horticultural Council warns sector output will drop for lack of workers, support
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa — The Canadian Horticultural Council warns the federal government is using inaccurate numbers to describe how many temporary foreign workers are currently in the country. During a virtual meeting of the Commons standing committee on agriculture and agri-food, CHC president Brian Gilroy said food security continues to be threatened as a result of labour […] Read more
Cargill’s High River plant reopens with two slaughter shifts
Cutting line to resume Wednesday
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cargill’s southern Alberta beef packing plant, estimated to be responsible for over a third of Canada’s beef processing capacity, restarted Monday after a two-week COVID-19-related shutdown — but at a quicker pace than previously expected. The company said in a statement Monday it is resuming operations at the High River plant “with two shifts” in […] Read more
In search of new employees for the farm
If it seems you’ve looked everywhere for new employees, maybe it’s time to try a new way of hiring
Reading Time: 7 minutes We keep hearing the numbers. The farm employment crisis is real, and it is getting worse with over 100,000 farm workers expected to retire in the 2020s, and a dwindling number of candidates from traditional sources to replace them. So, why not go to non-traditional sources? Or maybe there are better ways to let potential […] Read more
CFA seeks $2.6 billion in support for producers
Federal officials sought specific numbers from ag industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa — Canada’s agriculture industry is seeking an initial $2.6 billion in COVID-19-related emergency relief funding from the federal government. Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) officials put in the ask to the federal government on Thursday. According to second vice-president Chris van den Heuvel, federal officials asked the CFA “to go and put hard numbers […] Read more
Equal, and equitable too
In a new column, CAHRC’s Jennifer Wright offers strategies that can boost the opportunity for female family members and employees to contribute on-farm
Reading Time: 6 minutes In 2017, 16,500 jobs could not be filled in Canadian agriculture, resulting in a loss of $2.9 billion in sales. When asked, 47 per cent of agricultural producers said they could not find enough workers, causing stress, production delays, lost sales, and delays or cancellations for farm expansions or upgrades. In the same survey, 34 […] Read more
‘So far, so good,’ fertilizer sector says
Fertilizer Canada says vast majority of members have sufficient supplies in place or en route
Reading Time: < 1 minute There shouldn’t be any problems in supplying farmers with fertilizer this spring, says the organization representing manufacturers and distributors. “Our members are set to go,” Fertilizer Canada president and CEO Garth Whyte said in a news release Wednesday. “COVID-19 plans were quickly established at facilities, in conjunction with being declared an essential service, there was […] Read more
Foreign workers starting to arrive, livestock group says
About 2,000 have recently arrived, several thousand more here soon, feeders say
Reading Time: < 1 minute About 2,000 foreign workers have arrived in Canada in recent weeks and more should be here soon, an official with the National Cattle Feeders Association says. “There are about 4,000 more that are expected to arrive shortly, so the process is starting to work,” Janice Tranberg, the association’s president and CEO, said during a telephone […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
