Jennifer Wright has been appointed to the role of executive director of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC). Wright has worked with the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council as a consultant for more than ten years, and joined the organization as a staff member in 2019. In April 2021, she was appointed to the… Read More
Category: Labour
Agriculture and food issues often cross provincial, national and international boundaries. Being a leader of a farm organization frequently requires representatives to look well beyond the farm gate to tackle issues that impact their members. That’s certainly the case for Thunder Bay, Ont., dairy farmer Peggy Brekveld, who in 2023 will again lead the Ontario… Read More
Dairy farming is labour intensive 365-days of the year. It’s also an industry that can be both physically and technologically demanding all at once. Because of the round-the-clock care dairy farms require, it takes a certain kind of temporary work force to fill in when farmers need time off. Martin VandenHoven, of Relief Herdsmen Services,… Read More
If you’ve been a fan of RealAgriculture a while, you’ll know we’re committed to few things, including covering the issues that matter most to the agriculture industry and having a sense of humour. As we heard on the Farmer Rapid Fire this week, qualified farm workers are increasingly harder to find. The labour shortage isn’t… Read More
Winter wheat harvest is nearly complete across Ontario, and Western Canada is nudging ever closer to swath timing and the start of harvest. For many, setting up the harvest crew is a challenge. Finding the right people or sometimes just enough people can be really difficult, so we want to know — where are you… Read More
The work culture of a farm is much like its reputation — whether it’s intentional or not, it still exists. What makes a work culture? It’s not just people, it’s the behaviour of the people and how well they live out a business’s core values that create a work culture. People’s behaviour is shaped by… Read More
Earlier this week, an announcement came through that consultations for the National Agricultural Labour Strategy are open. The consultations will allow the agriculture and agri-food sector to have an opportunity to weigh in on labour shortages, challenges, and obstacles through an online process. The labour strategy is put into action through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC),… Read More
The Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food has launched consultations for input in to a National Agricultural Labour Strategy. Opening June 27, and running until September 28, 2022, the agriculture and agri-food sector will have an opportunity to weigh in on labour shortages, challenges and obstacles through an online process. The National Agriculture Labour Strategy will seek to address… Read More
As the calendar flips to June, farmers are urgently trying to complete planting or seeding across Canada. No matter the reason, whether you are feeling behind or there’s poor weather on the horizon, we all tackle the logistical challenges of planting and seeding in different ways. Some farmers are solo artists, while others have large… Read More
If the very idea of hiring a new employee stresses you out, the HR Toolkit offered by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) might help. What’s more, your general farm organization membership may get you the toolkit free-of-charge. CAHRC is a national, non-profit organization focused on addressing human resource issues specific to farming and… Read More
The federal government is planning to boost funding for environmental programs through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in the 2022 budget introduced on April 7. While the budget contains projections of a $52.8 billion deficit and national debt totalling $1.2 trillion at the end of 2022-23, the $452.3 billion spending plan and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s… Read More
Changes have been made to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program, announced earlier this week by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. The Program Workforce Solutions Road Map is an initiative that marks the next step in an ongoing effort to adjust and improve the TFW Program to ensure it continues to meet the… Read More
The work stoppage has begun for Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) as of early Sunday morning, with both the union and the railway accusing the other of initiating the halting of rail services. As of early Sunday, both CP and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) were still at the table with federal mediators, according… Read More
Funding of up to $3.7 million is available through the Youth Employment and Skills Program (YESP). The federal program will support approximately 300 jobs for youth in the agriculture sector this year. Available for employees ages 15 to 30, the YESP aims to provide young Canadian with job experience in agriculture that could lead to… Read More
With an eye to the future, cattle prices and cut-out values will eventually have to reflect significant shifts in labour and robotics, packaging, transport, and sustainability demands on the sector. Over the last 23 months, there’s been a lot of talk about supply chains moving from just-in-time delivery to a more of a just-in-case type… Read More