Farmers Wanted: The labour renewal Canada needs to build the Next Green Revolution
- Media Manager
- Apr 1, 2023
- 1 min read
RBC Climate
A collaboration with BCG Centre for Canada’s Future and
Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph
Published: April 2nd, 2023
Photo Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
Canada’s agricultural skills crisis is already one of the world’s worst. The country has one of the highest skills shortages in food production compared to other major food exporting nations-trailing only the U.S. and the Netherlands.
A rapidly approaching demographics crisis is set to make the problem worse. In 10 years, 60% of today’s farm operators will be over the age of 65. Never have so many Canadian farmers been so close to retirement. In addition, the number of operators below the age of 55 has declined by 54% since 2001. The most immediate solution to this challenge rests at our borders. Providing permanent immigration status to over 24,000 general farm workers and 30,000 operators can assist in bridging retirement and staffing gaps, help the sector fulfill its productivity potential and meet domestic and foreign food demands.
Many farms and greenhouses are already looking to other countries to address the need for low-skilled labour. Indeed, Canada’s agricultural sector is among the most diverse in the world though the degree of demand for foreign workers differs significantly by province and operation.
