As weāve seen in earlier posts on this blog, Canadaās agriculture industry is experiencing a chronic labour crisis.
According to labour market information (LMI) research conducted by The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), the vacancy rate for on-farm jobs is seven per cent, which is the highest vacancy rate of any of Canadaās industry sectors. Read more
Last week on this blog, we learned 12 facts about the agricultural labour shortage, and why it matters to Canadians. This week weāre going to take a look at some of the solutions being explored to help with this chronic crisis.
At the ACFA we have a variety of initiatives aimed to help with recruitment and retention, but there are many other programs in place aimed at helping solve the challenge. Here are three of them:
Supported by almost 70 agricultural associations, the WAP is a long-term strategy to address the issue of the chronic shortage of labour. Its stated goals include increasing the supply of workers, and also improving the knowledge and skills of workers.
āCommunicating the labour shortage issue is part of the work of the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Workforce Action Plan (WAP),ā said Janet Krayden, stakeholder engagement specialist with the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council. āItās important, because this work is essential to providing Canadians with food and it involves unique and special skills of workers.ā
Canadian farmers always employ Canadians wherever possible, but sometimes they simply canāt build a workforce large enough to run their operations. Often, the only way they can run efficiently is by supplementing their Canadian workforce with temporary foreign workers.
In an earlier post, we discussed Career Connections, an innovative educational program from Acme School, which is helping teach students about the opportunities available to them in their rural communities. You can read more in āHow cattle feeders are helping create a future for young people in agricultureā.
There is no simple solution to the labour crisis, in part because there is no simple cause. But, initiatives like these are all helping us deal with a chronic and worsening problem.
Stay tuned for future blog posts, as we will undoubtedly return to this important topic.
Last week on this blog we talked about the labour shortage facing cattle feeders. This week we’re taking a more detailed look at how that affects Canadians. Read more
The Alberta Cattle Feedersā Association (ACFA) has led the industry for more than four decades. We are the voice of cattle feeders who raise a substantial percentage of beef produced in Alberta.
Here, in five brief points, is a snapshot of who we are, what we do, and why you should be interested:
When the Liberal government announced a review of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFW program) last week, the news caused little more than a ripple ā but to the beef industry itās a big deal.
This was another busy year for the Alberta Cattle Feedersā Association, as we continued to support our industry through five strategic priorities.Ā With new governments both provincially and federally, weāve been kept very busy. Here are some of 2015’s highlights:
Photo courtesy of Glenbow Museum circa 1910
Alberta has a long history of producing the finest beef, and our feedlot operators are proud of the role they play in producing world-class quality.Ā
Photo credit Glenbow Museum āStart to Finishā circa 1953
In a previous post we explained who the ACFA is, and what we do. This week weāre going to share a short history of the Alberta feedlot industry and the birth of its association:
