Thumbs up for agricultural careers: farmers, consumers

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

by SUSAN MANN

Farming may be challenging but many producers would still recommend an agricultural career to a family member or friend, according to a recent Farm Credit Canada survey.

The FCC vision panel survey released Thursday found that 80 per cent of producers would encourage others to get involved. Moreover, 21 per cent of consumers across Canada who participated in the March survey would consider a career in agriculture and 27 per cent would encourage someone else to pursue it.

Both groups used similar words to describe farming when asked to choose five words from a list associated with the agricultural industry. The words were: weather dependent, struggling, under-recognized, underpaid, essential.

The online survey had 2,015 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 per cent. “Although farmers recognize the challenges inherent in the industry they still would encourage others to get involved,” it says in an FCC press release.

Bette Jean Crews, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, says she would agree with the words picked by survey respondents. “The biggest challenge is getting our fair share of the dollar in the marketplace.”

Crews would also recommend farming as a business. Her father wasn’t farmer but he had his own barbershop business. One thing farmers like about the business is being able to make their own decisions and seeing the results of that, she explains.

“I do think society’s mind is coming around to the fact that they need to pay what agriculture is worth,” she says. “I think it’s going to take a few more years but I see us on an upswing.”

Agriculture employs one in eight Canadians, the press release says. BF