| If nothing is done to respond to the need for more and better-trained farm workers in Quebec, the province’s agriculture industry will soon begin to shrink, the head of an agency on labour has warned a government commission on the future of agriculture. |
| “To optimize production and respond to consumers’ growing demand for quality, agriculture producers will increasingly need qualified and performing manpower,” Martine Mercier, first vice-president of the Union des producteurs agricoles and president of AGRIcarrières, says. “An effort by the government and all (agriculture) partners is needed in order to make the advantages of the industry and its trades known to the general public.” |
| In a document to the commission, AGRIcarrières identified several challenges regarding farm workers. |
| They include an acute need for more basic training and improved access to knowledge and experience, the creation of a spirit of continued learning within the farming community, an improvement in the access to farm jobs and the development of a more professional seasonal workforce. |
| AGRIcarrières also supports and promotes the increased use of foreign and immigrant workers by Quebec producers. |
| According to Mercier, who owns and operates an egg hatchery, the shortage of workforce on farms in Quebec has reached a crossroads. |
| “I would qualify the current situation as critical,” Mercier says. “And if something’s not done soon, it will result in fundamental changes to the industry here.” |
| Almost half of the 120,000 workers on some 31,000 farms are hired help, and most are seasonal workers. |
| While Quebec has a network of management, technical and farm-labour courses and programs from high school to the university, both Mercier and Hélène Varvaressos, AGRIcarrières’ director general, say only 2,000 students are currently enrolled. |
| That’s not enough to meet Quebec’s current and future farm-labour needs. |
| One major hurdle with education, Varvaressos says, is getting “critical masses” of students. “What’s needed are new technologies and innovations that will give better access to training.” |
| Another obstacle is recruitment, a problem Mercier thinks is due to both bad publicity for sectors like hog farming and the farming industry’s relatively low profile. |
| She believes political will, increased resources, better access to job banks and changes like tax credits to permit and encourage growers to train employees, are necessary first steps to addressing the worker shortage. Training, she notes, gives successful employees the chance to receive certificates that validate their training and give them pride in their work. |
| “We have to maximize the resources we already have in hand,” Mercier says. |
