Canadian agriculture sector has very real immigration needs

[Anonymous]

We often think of the need for highly skilled immigrants, but Canadian agriculture has labour shortages too that only immigrants(either temporary) can fill.



By Ryan Koeslag of Canadian Mushroom Growers Association



Canada's immigration discussions continue to be centered on numbers. How many refugees? How many economic immigrants? How many family members?



At the same time the economic immigration policy has become increasingly focused on recruiting "higher-skilled" for jobs in urban centres.



But Canada's agriculture sector needs more people working in agriculture in rural Canada. So we need something different. We are looking for a made in Canada solution for our permanent labour shortage. Why do we need this? The agriculture supply chain is contributing $111 billion per year to the Canadian economy, over 6% of Canada's GDP. That's more than $30 million per day, creating 2.3 million jobs. The mushroom sector contributes close to $1 billion a year to the economy with export increases of over $50 million last year alone.



Yet, there are 16,500 job vacancies on Canadian farms. This labour crisis is causing $2.9 billion lost sales to the economy. Mushroom farms have close to 20% job vacancy rate.



Many farms run ongoing ads and receive no applicants. Even though we pay competitive wages, offer stable work that provides a good quality of life in rural Canada. A wage survey conducted by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) shows entry level mushroom harvesters start at minimum wage and after training, experienced workers can make up to $29 per hour. Supervisors earn between $35,000 to $80,000 annually.



The most in-demand jobs are our entry level harvester positions — picking mushrooms. For occupations like this, the most difficult to find people for, these are classified as "lower-skilled." So even when there are no Canadian applicants, and we already have a trained workforce of Agricultural Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWS), there are very few immigration options that allow them to stay.



Farmers and processors recruit for something not included in the Canadian immigration merit-based point system. We need people interested in working in agriculture, with experience, who want to participate in rural Canadian life. We can prove this actually supports a very high level of retention.



What we propose in our Give Rural Canada a Chance report, is a new immigration program where rural Canada and agriculture are prioritized. A program that supports job matching of immigrants to regions and sectors with high job vacancies. Where an immigrant coming to Canada has a job from day one in rural Canada, working in an important industry that grows our food, so we can all go to the grocery store and eat Canadian food every day.



In many ways the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) already allows for job matching, while providing a Canadian first approach that we support. However, we need a permanent made-in-canada Agrifood solution, not a "temporary" program.



We are happy a new Agrifood Immigration Pilot was announced this summer. Criteria is being finalized. This is a step in the right direction, but we need to make sure it allows real immigration access to workers wanting to work on the farm.



We believe work in rural Canada has value. We believe hard work on the farm has value. We want to support the TFWS on our farms to a clear pathway to citizenship because we want our workers who are employed in yearround jobs to be allowed to stay. In our new video, we show how we support farm workers, including family reunification.



We've done the research and we have the plan to make this happen. We're ready for action.



We call on the Government of Canada and all political parties to work with us on a made in Canada solution to support farm workers, farmers, and safe and affordable Canadian food on our grocery shelves.

[Anonymous]

I saw a program on CBC several years ago about Jamaicans that go to Southern Ontario every year to pick apples in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Agriculture in Canada is highly mechanized, but some sectors(fruit growing in particular) still needs large numbers of unskilled workers for very short periods of time every year.

[Berry Sweet]

Am I the only one who thinks its pathetic that Canada brings in immigrants to pick fruit for cheap labour...same goes for stuffing in these people to work at Tim Hortons...have you walked into any Tim Hortons lately? Its like immigration land...and to be honest, none of them look happy.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who thinks its pathetic that Canada brings in immigrants to pick fruit for cheap labour...same goes for stuffing in these people to work at Tim Hortons...have you walked into any Tim Hortons lately? Its like immigration land...and to be honest, none of them look happy.

None of the farming where I live has many workers period. Beef cattle and grain farming are not labour intensive. However, in BC it does require a lot of hands for a short period each year.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who thinks its pathetic that Canada brings in immigrants to pick fruit for cheap labour...same goes for stuffing in these people to work at Tim Hortons...have you walked into any Tim Hortons lately? Its like immigration land...and to be honest, none of them look happy.

No Canadian wants to do it. They come here for three weeks every year and return home. If you got a better idea, let's hear it.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who thinks its pathetic that Canada brings in immigrants to pick fruit for cheap labour...same goes for stuffing in these people to work at Tim Hortons...have you walked into any Tim Hortons lately? Its like immigration land...and to be honest, none of them look happy.

No Canadian wants to do it. They come here for three weeks every year and return home. If you got a better idea, let's hear it.

I don't know what the alternative to TFW's would be.



What Berry said about Timmy's franchises is an entirely different matter.

[Zetsu]

Am I the only one who thinks its pathetic that Canada brings in immigrants to pick fruit for cheap labour...same goes for stuffing in these people to work at Tim Hortons...have you walked into any Tim Hortons lately? Its like immigration land...and to be honest, none of them look happy.

No Canadian wants to do it. They come here for three weeks every year and return home. If you got a better idea, let's hear it.

I don't know what the alternative to TFW's would be.



What Berry said about Timmy's franchises is an entirely different matter.

I think this is the best option for both employer and employee, I mean Hong Kong has done it and never have to deal with the immigrant mess like in Canada or Europe.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who thinks its pathetic that Canada brings in immigrants to pick fruit for cheap labour...same goes for stuffing in these people to work at Tim Hortons...have you walked into any Tim Hortons lately? Its like immigration land...and to be honest, none of them look happy.

No Canadian wants to do it. They come here for three weeks every year and return home. If you got a better idea, let's hear it.

I don't know what the alternative to TFW's would be.



What Berry said about Timmy's franchises is an entirely different matter.

I think this is the best option for both employer and employee, I mean Hong Kong has done it and never have to deal with the immigrant mess like in Canada or Europe.

Hong Kong has TFW's too. But, mainland migrants are filling employment gaps

[Anonymous]

The number of foreign workers in Korea is about 1.5 million and rising.

[Odinson]

We have a mushroom industry..



But they pay like 3 cents per shroom... They can pick them by themselves.





The industry is whining that lazy finnish dogs are not interested in work..

[Odinson]

Same with the forest berry harvesting jobs..



3 cents per liter..





Again... Lazy finnish dogs are not interested in working..

[Odinson]

They ship in hundreds of Thai gatherers every season..



At the end of the day, you can pile the Thai in a shipping container for the night..

[Anonymous]

I just looked and it seems Taiwan has 706,000 foreign workers, mostly from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines..



Many do the tedious work of the micro chip industry.

[Zetsu]

We have a mushroom industry..



But they pay like 3 cents per shroom... They can pick them by themselves.





The industry is whining that lazy finnish dogs are not interested in work..

Lol, the wage for the average Thai berry picker is 8x of what they make back in Thailand, they say about 40 euros a day.