That has Lupe Gonzalo worried.

“A lot of places in the field, you don’t have access to shade, to clean and fresh drinking water,” said Gonzalo, a senior staff member with the non-profit Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), who works with farmworkers across several southern states.

For years Gonzalo picked tomatoes, berries, sweet potatoes and other produce, and the heat was always an issue. But her concerns are mounting.

“It’s getting hotter and hotter as climate change continues, and it will continue to be an issue for workers,” Gonzalo, 43, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“We’ve already seen far too many people become ill and even lose their lives. So this is truly an urgent issue,” she said.

While regulations to protect agricultural workers from the heat have been held up by political wrangling, Gonzalo and her colleagues have spearheaded an alternate strategy.

They seek to sidestep the slow and increasingly politicized government machinery and instead appeal directly to consumers and large brands.

Gonzalo and others in the CIW set up the Fair Food Program to strike deals directly with large companies.

The companies pledge to pay fair wages, eliminate sexual harassment and other issues – including increasingly stringent heat protections – in return for Fair Food Program certification for their products.

The heat-related measures include providing shade, having required breaks, training for workers and supervisors, electrolyte-infused water, and the ability to seek care without fear of retaliation.

‘Sourced for good’

The program currently covers tens of thousands of workers in 10 states, through agreements with companies such as Walmart, McDonald’s, Subway and others.

The group also works with farmworkers in Chile and South Africa, and is seeking to expand to other countries.

At national grocery store Whole Foods, for instance, consumers can purchase Fair Food Program-certified sweet potatoes and cut flowers labelled as “Sourced for Good”.

Now the program’s reach is about to expand significantly, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) highlighted its approach for special acknowledgement under a new program aimed at addressing human rights and worker retention on farms.

Last month, the first-ever pilot awards were made under the program, which the Fair Food Program said would see it expand to 13 new states, nearly doubling the number of farms covered.

Tomato grower Jon Esformes, whose company received one of the awards, has implemented the Fair Food Program guidelines on his operations across the United States and Mexico, though the CIW is not present in the latter country.

He said he took the steps after sitting down for the first time to simply talk with CIW leaders about their concerns.

“I found very quickly a group of people that were interested in the same things I was interested in,” he said. “We want to provide a safe and fair workplace, we want to have transparency, we need our workers to feel like it is their farm.”

Protection decades overdue

The U.S. government has dragged its feet on worker heat protections for decades, said Juanita Constible, a senior advocate with the heat solutions program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

About 51 million U.S. workers are at high risk to heat, with less than a fifth of those covered by standards, the think tank has found.

The federal government is only now updating 1970s rules, last week releasing a proposal that would offer heat protections for indoor and outdoor workers, including requiring employers to provide workers with water and shaded or air-conditioned areas above certain temperatures.

Still, a final rule could take years, with recent moves by the Supreme Court potentially further threatening such efforts.

While business associations said they were still reviewing the new proposal, farming and construction lobby groups have criticized early steps in the new process, warning of burdens to businesses.

Yet, Constible said, “the research has kept piling up that heat is not only potentially deadly to workers, but also drastically affects their productivity – billions of work hours lost in the U.S. and around the world because it’s too darn hot.”

The probability of work-related accidents rises by nearly six per cent when temperatures pass 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), according to research from the Workers Compensation Research Institute published in May.

In the absence of federal action, five states have passed their own laws with a sixth on the horizon, though these vary significantly in scope.

Cities have also taken proactive steps, including in June in Tucson, Arizona, but such efforts have run into political resistance, with new local rules in Florida and Texas halted by state officials.

Constible worries such politicization could continue, which she says underscores the importance of the Fair Food Program’s strategy of appealing to brands and consumers.

“I’m a huge fan. I think it’s been amazingly significant for those workers,” she said.

Farms that can ensure workers feel safe and have access to the tools to keep them healthy have found it easier to entice prospective workers, a UDSA spokesperson said.

That is what Esformes, the CEO of Pacific Tomato Growers, has found amid recent worker shortages.

“When the rest of North America was reeling with lack of workers, we did not have enough jobs for the people who wanted to work for us. And the reason is we’ve created a workplace-of-choice environment,” said Esformes, 61.

He said May saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded in parts of Florida, just as farms were in full harvest, but that Fair Food Program heat guidelines were in operation for the nearly 3,500 workers on the company’s 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares).

“There’s definitely a cost associated with it. Electrolyte powder is not cheap; breaks aren’t cheap,” Esformes said. “But you know what also is not cheap? People getting sick and people feeling like they’re not safe.”

—The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. 

—Updated July 9. Clarifies that CIW is not present in Mexico.

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The federal finance department on Nov. 16 posted its legislative and regulatory proposals for changes to the UHT online and has teed up a consultation period for those proposals. Canadians and other stakeholders and organizations are asked to submit comment via email by Jan. 3, 2024.

The UHT — an annual, one per cent tax on ownership of vacant or “underused” housing in Canada which took effect Jan. 1 last year — has led a clutch of national farm groups to call on Ottawa for a blanket exemption for farmers from having to file a UHT return.

Canadian citizens and permanent residents are exempt from the UHT, but many corporations are not. That means a farm operating via a Canadian corporation or partnership with a residential property is required to file a UHT return each year, even if other exemptions mean no UHT will be owed.

Furthermore, the farm groups said, while some forms of farm worker housing, such as a bunkhouse or mobile home, are exempt, a detached house used for worker housing is not. That rule, they said, amounts to a penalty on higher-quality housing options for farm workers.

Freeland’s proposal would see certain types of corporations and partnerships added to the list of “excluded owners” for the purpose of UHT reporting — which means those entities “would no longer have UHT reporting obligations.”

The proposal would exclude:

• a “specified Canadian corporation” — that is, a Canadian corporation in which foreign individuals/corporations hold less than 10 per cent of votes or equity;
• any partner of a “specified Canadian partnership” — generally, a partnership whose partners are exclusively “Canadian”; and/or
• any trustee of a “specified Canadian trust” — generally, a trust whose beneficiaries are exclusively “Canadian.”

Freeland’s proposal would also set up a new UHT exemption for “residential properties held as a place of residence or lodging for employees.”

That new exemption would cover residential properties anywhere in Canada, except those in a census metropolitan area or “a census agglomeration having 30,000 or more residents.”

Those changes are expected to apply for the 2023 calendar year and subsequent years, the government said.

Not retroactive

Federal Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau tweeted Wednesday on X that the fall economic statement “addresses major irritants” of the UHT, particularly by broadening its definition of “excluded owner.”

That move will “eliminate the need to file (UHT) returns for many Canadian businesses, such as agricultural businesses,” said Bibeau, a former federal agriculture minister.

However, she noted in response to other X users’ replies on Wednesday, the changes will not be retroactive to the 2022 tax year.

UHT filers have been granted two “transitional” extensions to file for the 2022 tax year without penalty. The first, announced in late March, extended the deadline to Oct. 31; then, on Oct. 31, another extension was granted, giving UHT filers until April 30, 2024 to file their 2022 UHT returns.

However, the government said, UHT returns for the 2023 calendar year will also need to be filed by the normal deadline of April 30, 2024, to avoid penalties and interest.

That said, Freeland’s proposed changes to UHT rules also call for reduced penalties for those who fail to file UHT returns by the annual deadline — and would make those reductions retroactive to the 2022 tax year.

Those penalties — now $5,000 per failure for individuals, and $10,000 per failure for corporations — would be cut to $1,000 and $2,000 respectively. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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They study team is “looking for farmers, ranchers, or anyone who works or lives on a farm” to participate, researchers said in a recent notice.

Their study is in the form of a 10- to 15-minute online survey.

Researchers involved in the study say global-level research shows farmers experience high levels of, or elevated risk for, stress, anxiety, depression and/or psychological distress.

Similarly, a national-level survey of 1,132 Canadian farmers found higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression but “lower levels of resilience” compared to the general population.

The sample group for that national survey, however, included just 98 Alberta farmers, or 8.7 per cent of the total sample, while Alberta farmers make up 21.4 per cent of Canada’s farmer population, the researchers said.

The survey would examine what aspects of running a farm are found to be most stressful, how farming stress impacts mental well-being, how farmers cope with stress and whether they experience burnout.

The study is led by Dr. Rebecca Purc-Stephenson, an applied social psychologist and professor at the university’s Augustana campus at Camrose.

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Police in Ontario said on Friday they had obtained information in November that migrant men and women were being exploited for their work.

The investigation — done in partnership with the Canada Border Services Agency — revealed that “an organized group of criminals enticed the victims into Canada with promises of good work and a better life,” a police statement said.

“They ended up living in deplorable conditions and were driven to work sites in private buses which were in a state of disrepair.”

The migrants were “mistreated, abused and exploited” for manual labour at farms, factories and warehouses in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), police said.

Police said the charges follow search warrants executed Feb. 8 at properties in Toronto, Mississauga, Vaughan and East Gwillimbury, Ont.

Facilities were set up that day to provide food, shelter, medical attention, information and support services, police said, adding that of the 64 people, 53 “accepted the offer of help and continue to be supported.”

Migrants described “dozens of people sleeping on mattresses on the floor,” as well as “coercion and control” and sexual assault, said Detective Sergeant Gary McBride.

“To see the state of the workers’ living conditions, considering the promises that were made to them, was heartbreaking,” York police chief Jim MacSween said in a release.

Police arrested five people, two Canadian citizens and three Mexicans, and issued warrants for two others, they said. Charges include human trafficking, sexual assault and working for a criminal organization.

Canada has become increasingly reliant on migrant workers to work in factories, farms and elsewhere. Advocates argue that even when they are brought to Canada legally, they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse in part because of their precarious immigration status.

— Anna Mehler Paperny is a Reuters reporter in Toronto. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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Chunli Zhao, 66, the lone suspect in Monday’s massacre at two mushroom farms in the seaside town of Half Moon Bay, was to be formally presented with seven counts of premeditated murder and a single count of attempted murder in a criminal complaint filed by local prosecutors.

The hearing was held at the San Mateo County Superior Court in nearby Redwood City, California.

The complaint against Zhao also alleged “special circumstances” accusing Zhao of “personally and intentionally” shooting to kill.

California law declares that defendants convicted of murder with “special circumstances” can be eligible for the death penalty, but Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019 declared a moratorium on executions. The state has not executed a condemned inmate since 2006.

Also on Wednesday, U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, a California native, planned to travel to the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park, site of the first of the recent deadly rampages. She was expected to meet with some families of the 11 people who were fatally shot in a dance hall on Saturday night by a gunman who later took his own life.

Coming in quick succession, the two shooting sprees left California reeling from one of the bloodiest spates of mass gun violence in decades in a state with some of the strictest firearm laws in the country.

Zhao was taken into custody on Monday evening outside a sheriff’s station, where police said he had driven shortly after the attack on farm workers.

The precise motive for the shooting remained unclear. Zhao had been employed by one of the growers, Mountain Mushroom Farm, and had resided at the property along with some other employees, according to a spokesperson for California Terra Gardens, which owns the farm. Authorities said early evidence indicated the bloodshed stemmed from a workplace grievance. The second crime scene, Concord Farms, is about a mile away.

Immigrant victims

Half Moon Bay, a community of about 12,000 residents south of San Francisco, is home to both a luxury resort and a low-income farming community. The shooting cast a renewed spotlight on hardships faced by the area’s farm workers, many of them immigrants from Latin America and Asia who often live in squalid labour encampments and toil long hours under poor conditions for extremely low pay.

The San Mateo County Coroner named six of the seven deceased victims on Wednesday and listed their ages as between 43 and 73. Charging documents listed the dead as Yetao Bing, Qizhong Cheng, Jingzhi Lu, Zhishen Liu, Aixiang Zhang, Jose Romero and Marciano Martinez Jimenez.

Jose Romero’s brother Pedro was also injured in the attack and was hospitalized as of Tuesday, the brothers’ cousin Jose Juarez told Reuters. Juarez said the brothers had immigrated from Mexico and worked at Mountain Mushroom Farm.

Two days before the Half Moon Bay killings, another gunman 615 km to the south opened fire at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a club frequented mostly by older patrons of Asian descent in Monterey Park.

Eleven people died and nine were injured in Saturday night’s gunfire, which some survivors and bystanders said they initially mistook for fireworks as the predominantly Asian-American community was observing the start of the Lunar New Year.

Authorities said the assailant, Huu Can Tran, 72, drove a short time later to a second dance hall in the neighbouring town of Alhambra. There, the club’s operator disarmed him before he could open fire.

The next morning, Tran shot himself to death behind the wheel of his getaway vehicle as police closed in on him south of Los Angeles, leaving investigators with few clues as to his motive.

— Reporting for Reuters by Alexandra Ulmer in Half Moon Bay, Calif.; additional reporting by Tim Reid, Gabriella Borter, Rich McKay, Brendan O’Brien, Brad Brooks, Jonathan Allen, Joseph Ax, Dan Whitcomb, Eric Beech, Omar Younis and Timothy Gardner; writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles.

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Her new mandate letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said developing a strategy should be her immediate priority. Bibeau said in an interview that work has been underway for a while but the strategy is complex and was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters: Labour shortages in agriculture have plagued the industry for years and the federal agriculture minister has been asked by the prime minister to tackle the issue in 2022. 

Bibeau said temporary foreign workers aren’t the only solution to labour shortages. The government also looks for ways to recognize the value of agricultural work and attract more domestic workers. She said research, innovation and automation will all be part of the solution, as is increasing investment in youth programs to teach more about the sector.

“Yes, we need more people on the farm and in food processing facilities but agriculture is much larger than that and we need capacities in different (areas),” Bibeau said. “We have to make a full 360-degree analysis to see how we can face this labour shortage.”

Reform of the temporary foreign worker program is a key first step. She said she expects the first plank in the strategy will be a way to recognize trusted employers so red tape is reduced for them while cracking down on the bad actors.

“We definitely want our workers to be treated with dignity,” the minister said.

Consultations are ongoing on housing and mobility of workers, she said, and helping to make it easier for foreign workers to set up permanent residence in Canada.

Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow said the labour strategy is a positive element in a mandate letter he described as “fluff.”

He said business risk management improvement has been in Bibeau’s mandate letter from the beginning and is still not complete. Barlow said he would have liked to see more focus on trade, supply chain issues and transportation pinch points.

The letter directs her to ban the export of live horses for slaughter and Barlow said he believes there are larger issues than that. He also said the letters came out two months after the election, indicating a lack of focus by the government.

“It’s four pages long, 80 per cent of it is Liberal value virtue signaling and then there’s a half a dozen bullet points about what they want her to focus on,” he said. “What is your vision? What is the direction you are actually seeing Canadian agriculture go?”

Barlow added he is concerned the government is following the European farm to fork strategy that focuses on sustainability.

Bibeau said farmers must be both sustainable and competitive. She pointed to the government’s move to triple money available in the clean tech fund for farms as evidence the government has its priorities right.

The mandate letter also says she must “prioritize measures to support efficiency and climate-resiliency in the agriculture and food sector to strengthen food security and significantly cut agriculture’s environmental footprint.” She is to work closely with provinces, territories and producers to support sustainable growth in the sector.

“Furthermore, you will strengthen Canada’s food system, with particular emphasis on developing a National School Food Policy,” the letter said.

Other measures include determining full and fair compensation for supply-managed sectors affected by the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement within the first year of the government’s mandate, continuing work to prevent African swine fever, creating a No-Waste Food Fund, continuing toward modernizing the Canada Grain Act and helping the environment minister establish a Canada Water Agency.

This article was originally published at The Western Producer.

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While Canadian provinces and territories set housing standards, the federal government is responsible for ensuring tens of thousands of migrant farmworkers have adequate accommodation and their employers comply with quarantine rules.

Employment and Social Development Canada has been carrying out reviews of living spaces and workplaces. The vast majority of these inspections since April 2020 have been done virtually. In 2020, Canada found 99.6 per cent of inspected employers compliant; in 2021, it was 100 per cent.

Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office warned of inspection problems in late 2020 but things worsened, the audit found, with 88 per cent of quarantine inspections deemed “problematic” compared with 73 per cent the previous year.

“I think they had a lot of information and really should have acted on it, and I am disappointed that the situation didn’t improve,” Hogan said in an interview.

“It’s a pretty big failure.”

The COVID-19 pandemic hit migrant workers hard as many lived in congregate settings that fueled transmission. In light of the pandemic and recent wildfires and floods in British Columbia, Mexico is trying to change the conditions of Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program to better protect workers.

Eighty per cent of the COVID-19 outbreak inspections the auditor reviewed sat inactive, even as they required time-sensitive responses to ensure worker safety. Sometimes inspectors had information indicating noncompliance with pandemic regulations but labeled employers as compliant anyway, the audit said.

Employment and Social Development Canada agreed with the audit’s recommendations.

“The Temporary Foreign Worker Program was not designed to deal with a pandemic. As a result, rules, procedures, and training had to be developed in real time,” the department said in a statement included in the audit.

Canada’s $68.8 billion agricultural sector relies heavily on migrant workers. More than 79,000 migrants came to work in Canada’s agricultural sector between March 2020 and June 2021.

But Hogan said migrant workers are also “human beings who are relying on their employer to give them accommodations.”

— Anna Mehler Paperny reports for Reuters from Toronto.

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Eligible costs have expanded and the application deadline has been extended.

“The health and wellbeing of the workforce in the agri-food sector is, and always has been, a priority for our government,” said Lisa Thompson, minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs.

Why it matters: Agribusiness operations faced additional expenses related to worker protection during the pandemic and may now be able to recoup some of those costs.

As of Nov. 17, eligible expenses for the 60 per cent cost-sharing cap will increase to $50,000 from $15,000 per farm and the application deadline is Feb. 1, 2022. Those changes may allow producers to recoup some of the mounting COVID-19 safety expenses.

“By expanding the funding and eligibility, the EAWPP is helping enhance health and safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, keeping workers and employers protected, and ensuring Ontario’s food supply chain remains strong,” said Thompson.

The expanded eligibility covers food and beverage processors with three or more employees, agri-food industry organizations and associations, as well as poultry catchers, vaccinators and professional barn cleaners.

Susan Fitzgerald, executive director of the Poultry Service Association, said the group is pleased that the changes cover all poultry handling companies.

“Previously, the program specified chicken catching companies, which excluded other types of poultry catching and loading and also vaccinators,” said Fitzgerald. “Professional barn cleaners are another integral part of the poultry service sector, which were not included in the previous program.”

Gordon Stock, senior policy advisor with the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, said he anticipates growers will welcome changes under the Responsive COVID-19 Outbreak Management category. Claims for extraordinary costs related to the mandatory 14-day quarantine for workers, dating back to April 23, are now eligible.

“It’s welcome news that the programs are being opened up to include more costs,” Stock said. “It’s been a difficult fall, and it’s been challenging for farmers to find the time to do (applications) as the original deadline was Nov. 30, 2021.”

Stock said the increases signal provincial recognition of the extraordinary financial burden growers shouldered to maintain COVID-19 workplace safety protocols while also facing higher energy and labour costs.

“I think all those factors will help in the uptake of the program,” Stock said.

Chris Conway, Food and Beverage Ontario CEO, said members incurred significant costs to maintain worker safety through various workplace enhancements and by supplying personal protective equipment.

“There’s been a lot of precautions,” he said. “We have a call with our board every single week about this just to talk about changes and updates. (COVID-19 safety) is taken really, really seriously by the industry.”

Conway said some facilities and workplaces had mandated vaccinations, or at a minimum require daily testing for those who aren’t vaccinated. However, when it comes to temporary foreign workers, there are other barriers including language that make it more challenging to share COVID-19 safety and vaccine information. Cultural influences and general apprehension about the vaccine are additional issues.

“I can’t overstate how much work has gone into this to ensure our industry is compliant and safety protocols are in place,” said Conway.

He said that a key consideration is to ensure the application process is not overly onerous for members. Many small and medium-sized companies don’t have the resources to manage complex funding applications and won’t subscribe to them.

“(So it’s) just making sure when we see the details, that it’s relatively straightforward for organizations that are smaller or medium-sized and that the eligibility is broad enough to include different parts of the sector, whether they be smaller companies, larger companies and so on.”

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Provincial Labour Minister Jean Boulet on Tuesday tabled an amendment to bill 59, draft legislation that includes updates to Quebec’s workplace health and safety laws.

His amendment proposes to add Parkinson’s to the province’s list of work-related illnesses that “benefit from a presumption” requiring a reduced burden of proof — which in turn is expected to improve affected workers’ access to the workers’ compensation system.

In this case, the presumption will be conditional on affected farmers or employees having done work involving exposure to agricultural or veterinary pesticides for at least 10 years.

Also, a worker must have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s no more than seven years after his/her/their exposure to pesticides ends.

The amendment would also apply to workers in sectors where handling of pesticides is “possible,” the province said.

For the purposes of the amendment, work-related exposure to pesticides would be defined as handling or use of pesticides by contact or inhalation, or contact with treated crops, surfaces or animals, or contact with application equipment.

The proposed criteria are the same as what’s been used in France since 2012 for the same purpose, the province said.

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease, in which certain nerve cells break down in the brain over time, affecting movement and speech. No hard cause is known, but exposure to toxins and other environmental hazards is listed among several potential risk factors, such as heredity and age.

The proposed amendment, the province said, is meant to respond to concerns raised by groups including Parkinson Quebec as well as Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) during consultations.

Boulet, in Tuesday’s release, said he’s sensitive to concerns raised about the absence of Parkinson’s from Quebec’s list of presumed occupational diseases, and his proposed amendment lines up “directly” with his goal of improving access to the workers’ comp system.

The amendment, he said, is needed now to reflect the evolution of the workplace, where prevention must take a “central role.”

The Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) — the provincial body overseeing workplace safety and health programs — will continue to work with UPA and other players in affected sectors to support prevention efforts related to workplace pesticide use, the province said.

Adding Parkinson’s to the presumed occupational disease list demonstrates the government’s support for workers in the ag sector, provincial Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne said in the same release. Improving those workers’ access to the compensation plan will help ensure all are treated fairly, he added.

Monsef Derraji, the labour critic for the provincial Liberals, gave Boulet credit where due, but said in a separate release Tuesday that the proposed amendment also comes after the opposition party fought for two years alongside farmers and farm workers for its inclusion.

Parkinson Quebec has long called publicly for the province to recognize Parkinson’s as an occupational disease, noting both Sweden and France have already done so.

On its website, the organization points to “no less than eight” meta-analyses — that is, examinations of data from multiple studies on the same subject — as concluding that exposure to pesticides almost doubles one’s risk of developing Parkinson’s.

Occupational exposure “doubles to triples” that risk, particularly for pesticide applicators and grain growers, Parkinson Quebec said. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The statistic, across all sectors of the economy, is staggering and points to the need for adequate training.

The Ontario agri-food sector, with a diverse range of career opportunities, struggles to find enough qualified workers.

Providing opportunities for training and awareness of the industry improves understanding and prepares new workers for the realities of working on a farm or in a food processing facility.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the Canadian and Ontario governments have invested more than $750,000 in projects to support labour and training needs for new workers in the farming sector.

Through Canadian Agricultural Partnership funding, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) was able to partner with economic development and agricultural commodity organizations to develop short training videos to support the sector.

Biosecurity, integrated pest management, animal welfare, and agricultural equipment are some of the topics covered in the Focus on Food and Focus on Livestock video series. These videos provide the foundation for new workers, but also provide a window into the industry to enhance public trust.

New farm hires starting in the spring may also benefit from the new Ontario Agriculture Worker Safety and Awareness Certificate offered through the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus Business Development Centre in collaboration with OFA.

Topics such as an introduction to farm equipment, crop and livestock operations, hazards on the farm and general health and safety practices are covered to assist farm businesses with training and to provide job seekers with an advantage in a competitive job market.

For more information, visit feedingyourfuture.ca.

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