Better Farming - November 2016

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18 FarmNews First > Better Farming November 2016
Headline: It’s the Yield. Corn Type Area: NA Colours: CMYK
Publication: Better Farming Size: 7 x 3.25 Resolution: 300 ppi
IO: BF 2016-003 Bleed: NA Insertion: November, 2016
AGRI-FOODJOBS
to home brewers.
Even though new operations are
addressing new markets, Nissim
Avraham, who specializes in ethnic
and innovative marketing for the
Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO),
said opportunities exist to increase
the demand for Canada’s traditional
agricultural products. He sees new
growth in the food-processing sector.
“From the first day I joined DFO
nine years ago, I found the ethnic
market is an opportunity, and that
opens your eyes to opportunities in
other places,” he said.
Canada’s strong and vibrant ethnic
communities demand food products
that are not traditionally found in
North American markets.
“Paneer is a type of cheese eaten in
India. Basically, it’s the most import-
ant staple in Indian food,” Avraham
said. Canadian producers make about
600,000 kilograms of paneer per year
“and that’s not supplying half the
market,” he said.
“Plus there’s a market for a million
more kilos in Australia alone. I could
send two containers of paneer to
Australia a month, and I won’t scratch
the surface” of the market, he said.
Avraham is working with the
Canadian Trade Commissioner
Service to open up markets in the
Middle East through trade shows in
Dubai. Adding value to the food
chain in Canada is part of continued
growth in the sector.
Adding value is the key to future
domestic demands as well, said Hans,
whose dairy targets the Asian ethnic
market in Canada. “The south Asian
market consumes a lot of dairy, but
they tend to use dairy to make food at
home,” she said. “Now they are
having children, and a new market is
emerging. The children want the
same taste, but they are looking for
food that is already made for them as
a finished product.”
The future need for labour
New export demands, changing
consumer tastes and jobs that never
existed before in the agri-food sector
all put pressure on the sector’s future
labour supply, said the CAHRC’s
Hauer.
“We’ve projected the labour
numbers out 10 years, and the results
are sobering,” she said.
“We looked at the demographics in
each province — how many 5-to-15-
year-olds are there today who will
become potential entrants into
agriculture and agri-food in the
future — and we think the shortfall
will almost double in 10 years.” The
projected shortfall, according to the
CAHRC, is 114,000 jobs.
Convincing young people that
agri-food holds a bright career future
must be part of meeting the jobs gap,
she said. It’s the council’s challenge of
the future.
“We are working with other
organizations that have similar
concerns, including the Ag(riculture)
in the Classroom people and 4-H.
We’re trying to figure out how people
in non-farming families would
consider jobs in a variety of areas in
agriculture,” she said. “We don’t have
the answer, but it’s more than just
advertising.”
The CAHRC has already under-
taken the development of national oc-
cupational standards for agriculture.
National occupational standards state
the standards used in the workplace
for various jobs and specify the skills
Dairy Farmers of Ontario photo
Nissim Avraham