Better Farming - October 2016

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56 Farm News First > Better Farming October 2016
For Canadian farm leader Ron
Bonnett, it seemed like a
sensible, winning proposal to
make to the new federal Liberal
government and its newly minted
agriculture minister, Lawrence
MacAulay.
In the winter of 2015-16, the
government was struggling to make
good on a campaign promise to
quickly welcome and accommodate
25,000 Syrian refugees.
Matching refugees with agri-food
Forty-five per cent of Syrian refugees have an agriculture connection. Could their
arrival in Canada solve the sector’s HR crunch?
The Canadian agriculture and
agri-food industry was struggling
with an ongoing problem of too few
workers to fill all the positions on
farms, greenhouses, packing plants
and food processing facilities.
Bonnett, a northern Ontario beef
producer and Canadian Federation of
Agriculture (CFA) president, figured
both the government and the indus-
try had a problem and he had a
proposal that could help both sides.
“It was one of the first conversa-
tions we had with the new minister,
and we were highlighting that labour
continued to be a key issue as far as
the industry goes,” he recalls. “One of
the things we mentioned was the
Syrian refugees coming in and the
problem of finding a place for them
in the economy. Agriculture could be
part of the solution.”
The pitch appeared to fall on deaf
ears. MacAulay didn’t respond
although the former farmer and
27-year representative of a rural
Prince Edward Island riding in the
House of Commons surely had heard
of the industry problem.
“It is fair to say that initial conver-
sation didn’t have as much uptake or
response as we thought it might,” said
the CFA president. “I see it as being
about looking at immigration and
refugee policy to identify agricultural
skills as a priority, streamlining
people who have that background.”
Fast forward several months.
At a Winnipeg conference in
March, the Canadian Agricultural
Human Resource Council released a
report based on 2014 statistics. It
estimated tens of thousands of
unfilled food industry positions
equated to an impact of $1.5 billion
for Canadian farmers and a far larger
hit for the value-added side of the
industry. If not for foreign workers,
the industry would be in trouble.
The report also projected the gap
THE HILL
by BARRY WILSON
Ron Bonnett
Photo: MARY BAXTER
The Canadian agriculture and agri-food industry has been struggling with an ongoing problem of too few
workers to fill all the positions on farms, greenhouses, packing plants and food processing facilities.