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Ontario creates long-term labour strategy for agriculture sector

Queen’s Park is launching an agri-food labour strategy that will address sector labour challenges and ensure a stronger, more sustainable and innovative agri-food industry.

Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development announced the strategy and two initial projects during a virtual roundtable with leaders from Ontario’s agri-food supply chain.

“Many of our partners in the agri-food sector have voiced their concerns about labour disruptions to our food processing and supply chain due to the pandemic and they shared the need for a labour strategy for agriculture and food processing,” said Hardeman. “That’s why we are committed to working with all partners to plan for today, and beyond the recovery period and help set up the sector for future growth. By developing this labour strategy, we will position this sector for success and ensure Ontario’s food supply chain is protected and remains strong.”

During the virtual roundtable, Hardeman expanded on the government’s investment of $812,000 to two projects aimed at labour shortages. The program includes:

• $617,400 for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture for Feeding Your Future: Connecting Ontario’s Agri-Food Workforce, a platform that helps fill the labour shortage through a job matching concierge service, and provides free virtual career fairs, webinar series and specialized training opportunities.
• $195,000 for Food and Beverage Ontario to implement a strategy that will address critical challenges facing the sector such as talent attraction and retention, skills development, and innovation.

Working together with industry partners, the strategy will promote career opportunities and support training in the agri-food sector while identifying concrete actions to make the agri-food value chain more resilient.

“The agri-food sector has endured many challenges and uncertainties during the pandemic, and we are pleased to have ongoing support from the Ontario government,” said Peggy Brekveld, OFA President. “We are very proud of the Feeding Your Future initiative and its continued success addressing labour gaps through its job matching service, which connects job seekers with agri-food employers.”

The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) estimates a workforce shortfall of 123,000 workers by 2029 in Canada due to retirements and the shrinking number of workers entering the agricultural sector. Ontario is expected to represent the largest share of the shortfall.  The agri-food sector supports more than 860,000 jobs in Ontario and contributes more than $47.3 billion each year to the province’s economy.

According to the CAHRC, 16,500 agricultural jobs in Canada went unfilled in 2017, which cost the sector $2.9 billion in lost revenues.