The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) has shared news of the passing of its executive director, Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst. She died July 24, 2022, from brain cancer. MacDonald-Dewhirst was a highly respected, tireless champion of Canadian agriculture, leading CAHRC for ten years. Among her many accomplishments, MacDonald-Dewhirst spearheaded the Labour Task Force and Workforce Action… Read More
Tag: Portia Macdonald Dewhirst
Farming by its very nature is rather isolating. That’s good news in the midst of a national “social distancing” push in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. But being somewhat isolated doesn’t mean that farmers, their families, or their employees aren’t at risk. Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst, executive director at Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, says “There are lots… Read More
Labour shortages in agriculture are a challenge across nearly the entire sector, and unfortunately the issue cannot be fixed overnight. At this year’s Canadian Beef Industry Conference held at Calgary, Alta., the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) gave an update on the state of labour for the beef industry, along with agriculture as a… Read More
Data from a new report by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) shows that farmer’s across Canadian ag industry lost $2.9 billion in sales due to unfilled vacancies. The amount is an increase of $1.5 billion since 2014. The Labour Market Forecast to 2029 also shows 46 per cent of producers who reported vacancies… Read More
Is Shaun Haney unknowingly biased? Why is agriculture so very short on good people to fill jobs — from the farm level to the corporate office? Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst joins (the possibly-biased) Haney to talk about recent research by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council that outlined the huge personnel gap in farming and agriculture processing. In addition,… Read More