Reading Time: 5 minutes Edda Boettcher has hired several local high school students for part-time help at Capella Meadows, a certified organic vegetable farm and goat dairy in Brussels, Ont. When it came time to add a position for the 2022 season, Boettcher decided to offer an internship instead of traditional employment. “The people we could have hired didn’t […] Read more
The on-farm intern advantage
Could the innovative internship strategy on these diverse farms help conventional farms too?
Tap into these labour markets
Labour is harder to find than ever, and the future isn’t looking any better
Reading Time: 5 minutes “It’s grim,” admits Nita Chhinzer, professor of human resources in the department of management at the University of Guelph. It’s a function of demographics, she says. Our population is aging, the pool of young replacements is thin, and our immigration policies are tilted in favour of those at the mid-to upper stages of their careers. […] Read more
The class of COVID
These three new graduates are as passionate as ever, and even more resilient
Reading Time: 3 minutes In Canada’s colleges and universities, the last two years have seen unprecedented challenges coupled with myriad struggles to convert to virtual teaching. Few programs have been more impacted than agriculture, which relies on such an intense combination of classroom, lab, and field and barn training. But was there a silver lining from “COVID-19?” According to […] 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 lesson in farming
At Lakeland College, an innovative student-managed farm is turning out business-minded young farmers ready for the job ahead
Reading Time: 10 minutes Nearly 10 years ago, April Thomi faced the same dilemma as many high school students the world over. She was trying to decide where to go to college. April knew she wanted to farm. She had grown up on the Stanko family farm in southern Alberta, where her family had raised cattle and still grew […] Read more
Alberta’s Green Certificate
This high school program lets students graduate by gaining agricultural and on-farm experience
Reading Time: 5 minutes Agriculture is all about cultivating, nurturing and producing, so it’s no coincidence that a unique and highly successful high school training program in Alberta is using those exact words to describe its vision. “The Green Certificate Program cultivates partnerships, and allows us to nurture Alberta’s youth to produce the province’s agricultural future,” says Raelene Mercer, […] Read more
Young farmers talk about their future
We find out what these university students are thinking as they prepare to head home to the farm. They know their opportunities are great, but their challenges are humbling too
Reading Time: 9 minutes A gaggle in ball caps, T-shirts, jeans and flannel politely stumbled off the bus. They’re third-year students in the University of McGill’s farm management and technology program, and they were on a tour of Ontario farms. They stopped at mine to discuss business structure, succession and the future of agriculture. On closer look and listen, […] Read more
Agriculture classes on university campuses continue to grow
It isn’t only a robust farm economy that’s driving post-secondary ag education, but job opportunities and heavy recruitment too
Reading Time: 5 minutes The story is the same across the country. “Our application numbers in all of our programs are up,” says Joe Varamo, manager of academic programs for Ontario Agricultural College, Canada’s largest ag university, where total ag enrolment has climbed to 2,600, up from 2,000 just four years ago. “We’ve gone from accepting approximately 450 students […] Read more
Better ag education
Getting more young Canadians more interested in working in agriculture can be an achievable goal, says Becky Parker, whose Nuffield scholarship is supported by Glacier FarmMedia. First, though, we need to learn some lessons for ourselves
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you need to make a big splash, says Nuffield scholar Becky Parker, throw a big rock. A lot of little stones will only create a lot of little ripples. It’s an insight that Parker has brought home from her Nuffield tour of Britain, New Zealand and Australia, and it’s among the strategies that she […] Read more
The class of agricultural learning
These farmers find it rewarding and enlightening to host student field trips. Should you?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farmers need to open their farms to more people!” It’s a modern rallying cry from both inside and outside the agri-food industry as the two sides try to build better bridges to each other. But when do dairy or hog producers have time to conduct tours? And are grain farmers supposed to stop planting or […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
