Among food manufacturers, job vacancies fell nearly 32 per cent in 2024, while the number of payroll employees fell almost five per cent, wrote FCC senior economist Amanda Norris in a Dec. 18 report. This led to a job vacancy rate of 2.6 per cent.

Despite less competition for workers, wages offered for food manufacturing jobs rose 9.2 per cent year over year.

Beverage manufacturers saw a drop in vacancies of about 21 per cent, while the number of payroll employees rebounded after two years of declines, Norris wrote. This led to an increased labour demand of nearly seven per cent. However, wages offered for these jobs fell 0.2 per cent year-over-year.

Labourers, process control operators and industrial butchers were the most common job vacancies, but the number of openings has reached or fallen below 2019 levels.

Norris said softening demand for workers doesn’t necessarily predict positive tidings. The sector is ending the year with flat sales, and wages are rising to catch up with inflation. FCC predicted stronger sales growth in 2025, but also rising wages.

“Coupled with the uncertainty around both domestic demand and exports, businesses may be more hesitant to expand their workforce,” Norris wrote. “Uncertain times have led to paused investment plans, which does not bode well for the sector’s productivity.”

The food and beverage sector may also face additional labour challenges, as the percentage of its workforce over the age of 55 reached 28 per cent this year.

The federal government has also clamped down on levels of temporary foreign worker employment. Though food and beverage manufacturers are exempt from current program tweaks, FCC said further changes can’t be ruled out.

“We’re expecting a tight labour supply to keep wage growth strong, resulting in tight margins for the food and beverage manufacturing industry in 2025,” Norris said.

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“While we understand the federal government is seized with a housing shortage, temporary foreign workers are not the problem, representing only nine per cent of the temporary resident population,” the groups said in a statement today.

In March, the federal government announced that, effective May 1, some sectors would be allowed no more than 20 per cent of their workforces to be made up of temporary foreign workers (TWFs) brought in via the low wage stream—down from the 30 per cent limit introduced via the Workforce Solution Roadmap in 2022.

The sectors affected were wood product manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, accommodation and food service, and food manufacturing—defined as industries involved in turning agricultural products into ingredients or food items, whether for wholesale or retail, according to the North American Industry Classification System. Construction and healthcare were exempted.

The validity limit of labour market impact assessments (LMIAs) were also reduced. A LMIA is a document employers must obtain before hiring foreign workers. It assesses the impact of hiring foreign workers on the domestic job market and ensures that the employer and job offer are legitimate. In 2022, the maximum validity of LMIAs were extended to 18 months from nine.

The federal government cited reduced job vacancies and a need to reduce Canada’s reliance on foreign workers.

The organizations said the changes are already having an impact on productivity.

“Now with a reduction in the amount of time this assessment is valid as well as the length of time assessors take to review applications, there is concern that the industry will not be able to bring in needed foreign workers,” said Will Lowe, chair of the National Cattle Feeders’ Association.

“If there’s a shortage of workers in the processing sector, it runs the risk that producers can’t ship their product to market, causing uncertainty for producers and consumers alike,” said Rene Roy, chair of the Canadian Pork Council. “We need to help recruit more new Canadians to rural areas, and creating uncertainty defeats our efforts to convince people to come join our industry.”

Meat processors have struggled for years to fill jobs and have come to rely on foreign workers and immigration to maintain their workforces.

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“While some agriculture employers offered these benefits, many participating organizations do not offer any flexible work arrangements or basic benefits like sick days,” CAHRC wrote in a report on its 2024 survey of compensation practices in Canadian agriculture.

The survey encompassed 140 organizations representing 609 employees across major farming sectors (horticulture, beef and poultry are not reported).

It found that on average of 44 per cent of farms offer their employees sick time. Hog farms are most likely to give sick leave (56 per cent) but give the fewest days (3.75 days average) while apiculture (beekeeping) was least likely to offer sick time (21 per cent), but those who did on average allowed employees six sick days per year.

The majority of grain and oilseed (between 60 and 70 per cent), dairy (about 60 per cent) and swine farms (nearly 90 per cent) offered employees vacation time. Those that gave workers between 11 and 13 days off.

Finfish (aquaculture) farms were most likely to offer employees health insurance (a bit more than 80 per cent of farms). Swine farms came next, with nearly 70 per cent reporting health insurance. Around 30 per cent of dairy farms offered health insurance, while about 60 per cent of grain and oilseed farms did so.

The survey also examined employee wages by role.

Grain and oilseed farms consistently paid employees the most. The weighted average wage for farm managers was nearly $38 with a median wage of$39.90. Farm workers were on average paid a bit more than $27 per hour, with a median wage of $28.

Farm managers on dairy farms on average made nearly $26/hr with a median wage of $26, and workers made $21/hr and a median wage of $20/hr.

Hog farms paid managers on average a bit less than $32/hr and workers about $21/hr.

By comparison, employees in the construction sector in 2023 were paid nearly $36/hr on average, across all roles, Statistics Canada data shows. Manufacturing paid an average of $33.50/hr. Transportation and warehousing paid nearly $33/hr. Accommodation and food services paid on average a bit less than $22/hr across all positions.

StatCan data puts the average agriculture sector wage at $24.77 per hour in 2023.

The Canadian job market is expected to slow in 2024 with increasing unemployment rates from labour availability, CAHRC said in the report. However, agriculture is experiencing persistent labour shortages as producers struggle to hire workers.

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The federal government announced Thursday that, effective May 1, some sectors would be allowed no more than 20 per cent of their workforces to be made up of temporary foreign workers (TWFs) brought in via the low wage stream—down from 30 per cent since 2022.

Those sectors are wood product manufacturing, furniture manufacturing, accommodation and food service, and food manufacturing—defined as industries involved in turning agricultural products into ingredients or food items, whether for wholesale or retail, according to the North American Industry Classification System.

These sectors saw the percentage of allowable TFWs increased in 2022 in a bid to address labour shortages.

Construction and healthcare were included in the 2022 increases but are exempted from this week’s changes.

The federal government said the changes are to encourage employers to hire domestically.

“Today, we announced our intention to reduce Canada’s reliance on temporary foreign workers and encourage employers to find the talent they need right here, at home,” said Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Minister Randy Boissonnault in a news release yesterday.

Canada’s unemployment rate has hovered around 5.8 per cent for three of the last four months, the news release said. Job vacancies were at a record high in the second quarter of 2022 with nearly 984,000 open positions. In the fourth quarter of 2023, that number fell to 678,500.

Other changes announced include decreasing the time new labour market impact assessments (LMIAs) are valid to six months from 12; and that “employers will need to explore every option before applying for an LMIA — including recruiting asylum seekers with valid work permits here in Canada,” the release said.

Starting at the beginning of the year, employers are required to annually review TFWs’ wages to ensure they’re keeping up with the market rate for that occupation and region. Wages can’t be lowered upon review.

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“Canada needs a veterinary workforce enhancement program that supports expansion and innovation of clinical teaching, training, and research,” said Canadian Veterinary Medical Association president Trevor Lawson in a news release today.

The CVMA said it visited Parliament Hill today to call for more investments in programs to shore up the industry and for mental health support for veterinary workers.

The profession is facing a worker shortage that “poses a significant threat,” the CVMA said.

Between 2022 and 2031, 5,000 veterinary jobs will open due to expansion and replacement needs while only 4,300 job seekers will be available to fill them, the CVMA website says.

The shortage of vets and veterinary workers has been an ongoing topic of concern.

A 2020 survey of Western Canadian vet clinics showed that of 526 practices, 44 per cent of them were looking to fill 281 positions. Practices that had recently hired new workers reported it could take anywhere from three to 12 months to hire someone.

The data suggested that mixed animal practices, which likely are representative of rural and small-town clinics, struggled most to fill openings.

The shortage makes it difficult for vets to provide care, the CVMA said. It also threatens veterinary workers’ well-being, with a survey of Canadian vets showing that more than 89 per cent were suffering from burnout.

The CVMA said the shortage could be addressed by recruiting internationally trained veterinarians, by setting up a national testing centre for vets trained outside of Canada, and by dedicating cash to veterinary infrastructure.

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First Work connects young job seekers with more than 100 community-based employment agencies across Ontario. The organization works as a conduit to connect community employment agencies with projects and programs like the new Expanding Job Entry Pathways in Agri-food, launched earlier this year.

Why it matters: Engaging young workers with the agri-food industry could help meet the sector’s labour needs.

Led by First Work and backed by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the program aims to support and align new workers with agri-food employers across the province.

“With more than 123,000 vacancies projected for the agri-food sector by 2029, employment service providers (ESPs) can play a key role in helping businesses meet labour force demands,” says Akosua Alagaratnam, First Work executive director.

“Our goal is to increase the labour and talent pipeline to our agri-food sector. This project will assist and address skill development, support employers and increase interest from youth talent.”

Working to achieve its goal of connecting agri-food employers with employees that possess the right skills and talent, First Work is engaging with regional employment agencies and agri-food employers to participate in the program. It is open to farm employers who seek to attract and employ workers and develop talent and skill sets for employee retention.

“Through our local ESP networks, we aim to assist with career exploration and highlight opportunities within the sector that youth and job seekers may not otherwise know about,” says Alagaratnam.

Through the program, local ESPs can combine the information and tools available from the program and First Work with their own development programs. Some local agencies even use virtual reality to attract job seekers and prepare candidates for what to expect on the job.

“We’ve had local agency staff visit farms and agriculture businesses to capture footage of what it would be like to work there and feature the types of jobs and roles. Using virtual reality, we can use this unique method to expose youth and job seekers to these careers or prepare job candidates for their on-the-job experience,” says Alagaratnam.

ESPs can also work with agri-food employers to help recruit and fill jobs and identify the soft and hard skills necessary to perform tasks specific to farm and food employment.

Alagaratnam says that, in many cases, ESPs support job seekers with the development of universal soft skills like work ethic, adaptability to changing environments, customer service or working with a team.

Working with an ESP to complete a job assessment can also help farm employers identify hard skills required for their workplace environment, like animal safety, problem solving and effective communications.

Identifying these necessary skills can help ESPs support employers through the hiring process and even provide training to candidates and employees.

“Our goal is to help agri-food employers hire the right people and fill positions for the long-term,” notes Alagaratnam.

Employer support

When it comes to supporting agri-food employers, the program offers financial and recruitment support for hiring, training and retaining employees. Employers can take advantage of these programs by partnering with First Work member agencies.

Through the Expanding Job Entry Pathways in Agri-food program, employers can access free recruitment, training and retention support including up to $10,000 per employee for professional development, provincial funding up to $5,000 for hiring new talent, a $1,000 signing bonus for new apprenticeships and candidate screening and interview support.

First Work has also hosted two regional Farm to Fork Career Exploration Fairs to drive youth interest in agri-food careers and has plans for two more upcoming events, including a spring 2024 event in Toronto.
Employers are encouraged to exhibit and attend these upcoming career fairs to learn more about the programs available as agri-food employers, promote their own employment opportunities and learn about the current employee talent pool.

To learn more about the Expanding Job Entry Pathways in Agri-food, e-mail programs@firstwork.org or visit firstwork.org/agri-food-pathways. To connect with a First Work partner, visit firstwork.org/our-members.

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His family has grown tomatoes, pumpkins, sweet peppers, yams and bananas on their land for generations, but farms in Jamaica are not as big as the one he works on in Norfolk County. 

Davis recently shared his experience as an international foreign agricultural worker during Farm and Food Care’s first in-person farm tour since the pandemic began.

Why it matters: Many farms in Norfolk county depend on foreign agricultural workers to operate.

Davis enrolled in the Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program (SAWP) for Ontario in 2018, and skipped the next season because his initial farm contract wasn’t a good fit.

[RELATED] Amendments made to regulations affecting temporary foreign workers

He applied again in 2020 and found work at Suncrest Orchards in Norfolk County, owned by Amanda and Hayden Dooney.

“The farm you go to, you don’t have a choice because not all bosses are nice like Amanda and Hayden,” said Davis. “Some bosses don’t even have time to talk to you.”

As first-generation farmers, the Dooneys leveraged their home’s equity in 2019 and fulfilled their dream of purchasing the neighbouring orchard, launching Suncrest Orchards. In 2020 they bought a second apple farm nearby, and the operation now consists of 80 acres producing seven varieties of apples for wholesale.

Although Hayden grew up on his family’s apple farm in New Zealand and Amanda has training as a pest management scout, jumping into a farm business dependent on a foreign workforce was daunting.

[RELATED] Report lobbies for better foreign agriculture worker rights

In the first year, the Dooneys retained two workers from Jamaica who had worked for the previous orchard owner.

“That first year, they were showing me how to prune apple trees because I had never done that before. I had to learn everything,” said Amanda. “I learned a lot of great skills from Georgia and Gaza.”

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for the Dooneys because of demanding off-farm work commitments, a global pandemic in 2020, an August hailstorm that destroyed their crop, and fire blight that threatened the orchard in 2021. Some might have cut their losses.

Instead, with determination and faith in the Jamaican team’s skill, Suncrest Orchards weathered each storm and came out stronger.

“It’s very challenging. I think the big thing for us is being part of a team and having a really good team to rely on and working together to support each other,” Amanda said.

A high priority for the Dooneys is to ensure staff are treated like valued parts of the business and feel at home on the farm.

“It’s very important to me that they feel like this is their second home because it should be, and it is,” she said, adding they work in Ontario eight months of the year. “We really couldn’t do it without them. A lot of farms in Norfolk couldn’t work without them. So we really appreciate having them here and working so hard for us.”

[RELATED] Industry maps out agriculture labour strategy

In 2021 the Dooneys gutted their existing bunkhouse and invested $120,000 into redesigning it to accommodate six to nine workers. Beyond the standard kitchen and gathering space, they added another bathroom, and each bedroom has individual heat and air conditioning and comfortable beds.

“Every farm should strive to be the best farm, the desired place to have employment, that people want to go there and work,” she said. “If these guys leave – they find a better opportunity elsewhere – we support them. But in the meantime, we want to be the best place to work.”

When Davis approached them last year about applying for permanent residency, the Dooneys enrolled him in the two-year Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program, provided year-round employment and paid for his immigration paperwork.
Amanda said most of her workforce has no desire to remain in Canada, preferring to return home to their families in the off-season. Still, she believes it’s important to facilitate those who want to stay in Canada and contribute their skills.

“I look for people who are really driven and want to succeed and put that time in while they’re here,” she said. “And once he (Davis) has his permanent residence, he can work here or go somewhere else.”

The Dooneys strive to make their workers feel valued. They consider their input in orchard management and are considerate of their personal needs, said Davis.

The Dooneys regularly gather with the men, share recipes and cultural dishes and celebrate important days and milestones. They even buy the men goats to harvest for special occasions so they can enjoy traditional dishes.

“I told them when I get my permanent residency, I’m going to give them two- or three-years’ service before I leave,” said Davis. “If I even leave, I’m planning to go to Hamilton. When I’m there, whenever they have work, and I’m not working – I’ll be here. That’s how I feel about it.”

Because that’s what you do for family, he said.

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Agricorp, the province’s farm program delivery agency, announced in late December the feature first introduced in 2020 will be included again in 2022, at the same coverage level provided in the 2021 program year.

Agricorp said it will automatically add the coverage to customer policies for 2022 and farmers won’t need to sign up to get it. Insured farms will be covered for the COVID-19 labour disruption peril whether they chose multi-peril or a single peril of hail, frost, or hail and frost.

Specifically, the coverage is for production losses that are due to a producer’s illness or quarantine due to COVID-19; an inability to fulfill contracted on-farm labour due to COVID-19; and/or illness or quarantine of on-farm labour due to COVID-19.

In those cases, the policy will include production loss coverage for yield-based commodities; abandonment threshold coverage for fresh vegetables, on an acreage loss basis; mortality loss coverage for fruit trees and grape vines; and colony loss coverage for bee health.

Such losses will be covered for the “full duration” of a farm’s 2022 policy, from when the crop is planted until harvest or until the end of the farm’s policy term, Agricorp said.

That means it covers on-farm labour disruption losses through the growing season for the insured commodity — such as labour required to care for a crop after planting — as well as on-farm labour disruptions at harvest.

A farmer covered for such losses will need to contact Agricorp “without delay” if yield losses or mortalities in trees, vines or bees take place due to on-farm labour disruption.

The coverage applies to all commodities except forage, Agricorp said, and does not apply to coverages not listed above — that is, coverages such as unseeded acreage, replanting, salvage or bypassed acreage. It also doesn’t cover crops intended to be harvested in 2023 — for example, winter wheat seeded this fall.

The added coverage also doesn’t extend to “post-harvest” labour disruption losses such as in an on-farm or off-farm packing house or processing facility, nor to transportation of crops.

It also won’t cover loss of market for any reason, including COVID-19 — for example, a lack of customers at a U-pick farm. Losses that “cannot be verified” or aren’t directly related to the insured farm’s operations also won’t be covered.

Also, Agricorp noted, “it is important to understand that this added peril will not increase the existing limits of your coverage, but will be assessed within them.”

The coverage also requires farmers to make a “good faith effort to secure sufficient labour” for the 2022 program year, Agricorp said, meaning the agency may ask for information about steps taken to secure labour. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Statistics Canada data Nov. 5 showed the national unemployment rate hit a 20-month low in October. The shortage of skilled and unskilled workers threatens to hurt economic growth and fuel inflation, which is already at an 18-year high.

“Talent is an issue in every sector, at every level of the value chain, in every part of the country, and there’s no silver-bullet fix at hand,” said Leah Nord, a senior director at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Industry groups blame the shortage partly on COVID-19 unemployment benefits that alleviated the need for some people to work, and increased demand for better work-life balance among younger workers as older employees retire.

One solution, companies say, is to raise the numbers of temporary foreign workers. The federal government and several provinces are working on possible changes that would shorten the process to bring such workers to Canada and raise the maximum number of temporary foreign workers allowed to work per facility, said Richard Vigneault, spokesman for Quebec pork producer Olymel. The company is looking for 3,000 workers to add to its 14,000-member workforce, he added.

In the energy services sector, which is entering its busiest time of year as the winter drilling season gets underway, a shortage of labour has propelled firms to boost wages 10 per cent since June, according to the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC).

To attract workers, companies are also offering more flexibility in the hours they operate.

Canada’s oil and gas sector contributes about five per cent to national GDP and CAOEC chief executive Mark Scholz said the labour crunch could leave companies unable to capitalize on soaring energy prices.

Precision Drilling, Canada’s biggest rig contractor, is offering referral bonuses and incentives to recruiting teams to help address worker shortages, CEO Kevin Neveu said.

“I’ll tell you, it’s a big challenge right now,” Neveu told a third-quarter earnings call.

Suzanne Benoit, president of aerospace trade group Aero Montreal, said some Canadian companies are considering whether to raise salaries twice in the same year to retain workers.

“They feel obliged, or the people will leave,” Benoit said on the sidelines of the organization’s recent supply chain summit in Montreal, the country’s aerospace hub.

“It’s a perfect storm in the sense that there is inflation, a shortage of workers and the aging of the population,” she added.

The agriculture sector has long struggled to hire enough workers to pick fruits and vegetables. But this year is also seeing shortages of butchers and truck drivers, said Debra Hauer, manager of labour market intelligence at the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council.

Staffing shortages may improve as the government transitions people off its main emergency income support program and on to traditional unemployment benefits.

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Its recent survey report, entitled “Crossroads to Greatness: key insights and labour market research about Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing industry,” identified the challenges of labour shortages and the costs associated with them.

Why it matters: Inability to maintain a full workforce prevents food processing companies from expansion or upgrading facilities and processes.

Crossroads to Greatness was published April 29. The not-for-profit, industry-led FPSC said it “quantifies the financial impact of unfilled jobs in the industry, a chronic situation that began prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic and continues today.”

FPSC executive director Jennefer Griffith told Farmtario the report was informed by a survey of more than 700 food and beverage manufacturing businesses across the country, as well as by FPSC’s ongoing collaborations with national advisory councils that represent various types of food processing activities.

“The majority of the data collected for the report is from before the arrival of COVID-19,” said Griffith, which shows the critical lack of skilled workers has been a problem for years.

• Read more: Ag and food processing sectors join forces on labour challenges

However, border restrictions related to the pandemic had significant effects, particularly for travel by temporary foreign workers. It also slowed conventional immigration into Canada.

“Immigrants make up 31 per cent of the food and beverage manufacturing workforce,” Griffith said. “During the pandemic, retirements continued while immigration was stalled, further tightening the labour market.”

The report’s executive summary said “what is really standing in our way is an astonishing lack of people. There aren’t enough people working in the sector today to even maintain the status quo. To ensure that Canada is at the forefront of this rapidly growing sector at home and abroad, the industry must recruit tens of thousands of new workers between now and 2025, as well as equip them with an increasingly diverse range of skills and knowledge.”

Griffith said she is confident that the sector is up to the challenge. It has a positive story to tell about the resilience of food and beverage manufacturing in Canada.

“We know from our research at the end of 2020 that the employment level in food and beverage manufacturing was 98 per cent of its 2019 level while manufacturing outside of food and beverage processing was only 91 per cent of its 2019 level and the whole Canadian economy was at 92 per cent.”

Several recommendations in the report are already being implemented on smaller scales across the country. All that’s needed in some cases is a coordinated national approach.

“We believe all the recommendations have a place in solving the industry’s labour challenge but we are particularly excited about the potential for a national awareness and reputation program for the industry,” Griffith said.

Key recommendations in the report:

• Establish a national awareness and reputation program . . . (including) meaningful stories that promote careers and job opportunities, in addition to communicating education to career pathways.
• Promote “workplace integrated learning,” especially in the skilled trades, through local educational institutions to provide job experiences and a bridge to future employment.
• Offer onboarding and training in relevant languages for the workforce.
• Collaborate with governments, unions and training institutions to develop more post-secondary education programs aimed at producing food and beverage processing production workers.
• Invest in research and development and commercialization of new technologies, especially in uniquely Canadian products.
• Develop more capacity within pre-arrival training programs like FPSC’s Food Safety Employment Readiness Program, which provides training to support an individual in starting a new career.
• Map seasonal workforces in Canada to help seasonal food and beverage processors better target recruitment for workers and help governments better understand labour availability and mobility.

Griffith said much of this work boils down to making people aware of the opportunities available in the sector.

“The research has shown that only 31 per cent of people have a positive impression of the jobs offered. We need to change that.”

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