ONTARIO – Most people picture a farm when they hear the word agriculture, but in reality, agriculture stretches far beyond the farm gate.
It includes a network of suppliers, service providers, processors, transporters and retailers who, together, keep our food system running and our economy thriving.
This broad system has one thing in common: it depends on people.
And for many parts of the agriculture and agri-food sector, there aren’t enough people to fill all the available jobs – which means relying on temporary foreign workers (TFWs).
In simple terms, many agriculture and food-related businesses would not have enough workers without TFWs, threatening food production, disrupting supply chains, and undermining both our food system and our economic stability.
This isn’t a new phenomenon as there has long been a chronic shortage of workers in agriculture.
In fact, Canada welcomed its first seasonal workers in 1966 when 264 Jamaicans came to Ontario to help with apple harvest, laying the foundation for the long-running and well respected Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP).
Through SAWP, more than 30,000 workers from Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Islands come to Canada annually to help grow, manage and harvest produce. The contributions of international farm workers go far beyond the field, orchard, vineyard or greenhouse, though.
TFWs also play an important role in livestock transport and support services. They work on barn clean-out crews that maintain cleanliness, sanitation and animal health and care standards.
They vaccinate chickens and turkeys, for example and help keep truck wash bays operating, ensuring trucks are clean when they move livestock between farms – work that protects both human and animal health.
Many companies that haul perishable goods — like from the Ontario Food Terminal to grocery distribution centres across the country — now depend on TFW drivers to keep food moving.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, a network of finanicial consulting firms, has warned a growing trucker shortage poses significant risk to the Canadian economy and a lack of drivers results in shipment delays and empty shelves, all of which drives up prices.
Canada is already short 20,000 drivers and one third of today’s drivers are nearing retirement.
Food processing is another major employer of TFWs.
Some positions are full-time, year-round jobs in meat processing plants, where employers have long struggled to hire enough local workers.
Others are seasonal, such as in vegetable canning or freezing plants, where it’s nearly impossible to find Canadians willing to work for just a few weeks or months each year.
Last December, Food and Beverage Canada and Farm Credit Canada shared a report which stated that 59 per cent of Canadian food and beverage manufacturers identified skilled labour as their primary workforce challenge and that 22% of survey respondents had already downsized their operations due to staffing difficulties.
And finally, TFWs are present in the food service sector.
From quick-service restaurants to institutional kitchens, they help keep operations running.
If even 10 per cent of these businesses couldn’t stay open due to labour shortages, or couldn’t operate 24 hours a day, it could significantly reduce demand for the Canadian farm products that supply these outlets.
What’s critical to keep in mind is if local workers were available and willing to take these jobs, they would be hired in a heartbeat.
But the reality is that year after year, there simply aren’t enough applicants, and employers turn to TFWs to keep farms working, processing plants online and trucks moving.
To put it simply, in the agriculture and agri-food sector, TFWs are not replacing Canadian workers or taking job opportunities away from young people.
Instead, they are filling essential jobs that otherwise stay empty and are a vital part of keeping our food system secure and competitive, from farm fields to grocery shelves.
To hire TFWs, employers must first complete a federal Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to prove they have tried and failed to recruit qualified Canadians for the jobs they need to fill.
Additionally, they must pay their foreign workers what they would pay Canadians for the same work and must follow the same high standards for worker safety and fair treatment as they do for their local workforce.
At Ontario Federation of Agriculture, we support efforts to create more opportunities for Canadian youth and jobseekers.
But restricting access to TFWs for the agri-food sector will not solve unemployment; instead, it would destabilize industries that depend on this program, jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of Canadians who work alongside TFWs every day, and threaten our ability to produce as much of our own food as we can.
We must remember that agriculture means much more than farms.
It’s an entire system — and TFWs are a vital part of keeping it moving, supporting our provincial and national economies, and giving all of us access to food and farm products from right here at home.
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Cathy Lennon is the Ontario Federation of Agriculture general manager.
