“We are currently seeking eligible partners across Canada that have existing training programs that may be in need of further refinement or support,” it said in an emailed newsletter.

Eligible organizations can access funding between Feb. 1 and March 31 of this year, CAHRC’s website says. The training programs must be ready for delivery so participants may finish them by the end of March.

Funding may be used for things like enhancement of programs and materials, funding to deliver training in Indigenous communities or at an institution, and for ‘wrap around’ supports for participants, such as transportation or childcare allowances.

CAHRC will ask for an in-kind contribution of 10 per cent of the training program’s total budget.

The deadline to apply is Jan. 31.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor with AgCanada. She writes from southeast Manitoba.

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“I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). 

Mahoney entered the industry with no agriculture experience. She had training in human resources and got a term job at Cereals Canada. “I just happened to have a boss who saw potential and connected dots for me.” 

Mahoney spoke during a panel discussion on agriculture technology, education and labour during the Agriculture Enlightened conference in Winnipeg, Oct. 26. 

“When you write your next job description, are you putting agriculture as the number one requirement?” Mahoney asked. “Or are we looking at some of the soft skills?” 

“When we put out a job ad, you know, five to six years working in agriculture is usually the prerequisite so, you know, we automatically have to cancel people out,” she added. 

“We’re really trying to change that conversation around our table,” Mahoney said. 

The panelists discussed how Agriculture in the Classroom plants the idea of agriculture careers in the minds of young people. 

Mahoney told a story about how, at the diner in her small town, the young waitress told her she wanted to become a plant geneticist. When asked where she got that idea, the young woman said that Agriculture in the Classroom had come to her school. 

“And I saw whoo!” Mahoney said. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” 

Panel host Jennifer Flanagan, the CEO of Actua — a firm that connects students with the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields — said her organization recently partnered with EMILI and Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba (AITC-M) to bring agriculture technology to young people, particularly Indigenous youth in the Prairie provinces. 

The project added agriculture technology jobs to a career exploration package Ag in the Classroom provides to teachers AITC-M executive director Katherine Cherewyk said in an interview after the panel. 

Technology is changing quickly, Cherewyk acknowledged. However, she said in her experience, when kids know what they want to do, they begin connecting how they can use new technology to reach their goals. 

For more coverage of Agriculture Enlightened, see future editions of the Manitoba Co-operator, the Western Producer and Grainews.

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“A great deal of our agriculture industry’s success comes from research and skill development,” said federal ag minister Marie-Claude Bibeau in a news release, Tuesday.

Bibeau and Derek Johnson, Manitoba’s minister of agriculture, and Sarah Guillemard, Manitoba’s Advanced Education and Training Minister, announced Tuesday that the two governments would provide up to $6.4 million to establish the Prairie Crops and Soils Research Facility (PCSRF) at the University of Manitoba.

This adds to some $7.7 million from agriculture groups and companies such as Nutrien Ag Solutions, the McCain Foundation and the Manitoba Canola Growers Association, the University of Manitoba said July 5 on its website.

Thanks to the cash, “UM scientists will be able to accelerate soil and crop research far beyond what is currently possible,” the university added.

The current facility at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba is nearing the end of its lifespan, the government news release said. This new facility will expand and modernize agronomic research and training.

The PCSRF will improve the quantity, quality, and efficiency of seed, soil, and plant sample processing, analysis and archiving, and will integrate soil, crop, entomology, livestock, and engineering research.

“This is a significant investment that will greatly enhance our capacity for research, education programs, and collaborations with producers for more sustainable crop production,” said Martin Scanlon, the university’s dean of the faculty of agricultural and food sciences, in a statement.

“The PCSRF sets the stage for our researchers to develop an integrated approach to robust agronomic systems that will benefit Western Canadian producers and consumers across Canada for years to come,” Scanlon said. “At the same time this will allow our students to become the next generation of agri-food leaders.”

The PCSRF will improve students’ ability to get hands-on experience, the University of Manitoba said on its website.

The total budget for the PCSRF is $20.7 million, the federal-provincial news release said. Manitoba Advanced Education and Training is providing funding of up to $5.9 million in capital investment over three years, and the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP) is providing up to $500,000.
The new facility is slated to open in June 2026.

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Provincial Transportation Minister Ric McIver on Nov. 26 announced a new “Experience and Equivalency” program that’s expected to reduce the time required for Class 3 drivers to upgrade to Class 1 — plus a “Driving Back to Work” grant program, to make the training “more affordable.”

The grant program is budgeted for $3 million, to cover up to 90 per cent of the cost of the province’s Mandatory Entry-Level Training (MELT) program. The grants are expected to allow up to 300 unemployed Albertans to earn a Class 1 commercial trucker licence.

The equivalency program, meanwhile, is expected to give Class 3 drivers with at least two years’ experience the opportunity to take a 40-hour Class 1 training upgrade, instead of the entire 113-hour MELT designed for novice drivers.

Class 3 drivers in Alberta are licensed to handle larger commercial vehicles such as buses, dump trucks, large tow trucks, ambulances and three-axle vehicles without air brakes.

Several Alberta farm groups hailed the province’s announcement, in the wake of recent calls to make the MELT program more affordable and reduce backlogs in training and testing.

Alberta Sugar Beet Growers president Gary Tokariuk, in a separate release Nov. 27, said his organization supports highway safety, has “always believed in the MELT program and never wanted an exemption,” but the costs of the program — and providing recognition for industry experience — needed to be addressed.

The measures McIver announced Nov. 26 “find that balance by providing Class 3 drivers with the recognition of years of driving,” he said.

“We welcome the new experience equivalency Class 1 MELT program since it recognizes the strong history of driving experience that most farm workers, who are often family members, already have,” Alberta Wheat Commission chair Todd Hames said in a separate release Nov. 26.

“The need for Class 1 drivers licences on farms will continue to grow as farms expand, efficiencies improve and crop yields increase,” Alberta Canola chair John Guelly said in the same release.

“For farm businesses that operate on tight margins, these programs are a welcome relief to hire skilled employees and enable them to continue working on farms, while upgrading licences on farms to Class 1.”

“Farmers, foresters, roughnecks and truckers made it clear that cost is the major barrier to hiring Albertans,” McIver said in a provincial release Nov. 26, which noted the current average cost of MELT training across Alberta is $8,900.

“Providing better paths to earn a Class 1 licence will help deal with a shortage of truckers, getting our goods to market safely.”

Alberta is expected to have a shortage of 3,600 commercial truck drivers by 2023, the province said.

‘Right direction’

Manitoba recently announced a similar grant program, worth up to $50,000 per employer, covering up to two-thirds of the cost of tuition per employee for training taking place between Nov. 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.

“This time-limited grant is a step in the right direction, and we encourage all farmers in Manitoba to take advantage of this program,” Keystone Agricultural Producers president Bill Campbell said in a release Nov. 24.

“Manitoba farmers are not using their Class 1 licenses to take on long-haul routes, they just need to be able to safely move grain and livestock to market.”

KAP said it would “continue to advocate for increased flexibility” with MELT in that province, suggesting, for example, that “during these uncertain times Manitoba farmers would benefit from an online platform for MELT course delivery.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province on Thursday announced assistance of $627,946 for 2019-20 for a feasibility study making a business case to offer the Universite de Montreal’s veterinary medicine program through the Universite du Quebec at Rimouski.

The Universite de Montreal currently has the province’s only college of veterinary medicine, with annual capacity for 96 students at its St-Hyacinthe campus as of 2016.

The two universities propose to set up a “decentralized” program that would allow for the training of another 25 students per year, the province said Thursday.

The training would take place over five years, three of which would be at the Universite du Quebec’s Rimouski campus, followed by a year at the Universite de Montreal ‘s St-Hyacinthe campus and a year of clinical internship.

Those internships would be served partly in St-Hyacinthe and partly at veterinary clinics in “the regions,” referring to underserved rural areas. At least half the internships are expected be with veterinary doctors in regions identified by the province as most in need, including the Lower St-Lawrence, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Gaspe-Magdalen-Islands, Outaouais and North Shore.

The feasibility study would look at the start-up and operating costs for such a program, including real estate, technology and other capital costs and ongoing human and material resources.

Daniel Jutras, rector of the Universite de Montreal, said the aim of the project is not only to train nearly 25 per cent more veterinarians in Quebec per year, but to do so on a campus serving a large rural area in need of successions among vets.

The province has a notable shortage of veterinary doctors in its regions, particularly in the agrifood sector, the government said in its release.

If the project goes ahead, “I’m convinced that future veterinarians will be better able to respond to the needs of the regions of Quebec and to support (the regions’) development, notably in the agrifood sector,” Danielle McCann, the province’s minister for higher education, said in the same release.

Labour shortages affect all sectors in the regions, Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne said in the same release, but veterinary medicine and the agrifood sector are particularly affected.

A 2018 study by the provincial ag ministry (MAPAQ) notes nearly 20 per cent of veterinarians in general practice involving large animals have over 30 years of practice, and over a third will be of retirement age in 2027. The resulting shortage of vets would be felt particularly outside the province’s major cities, MAPAQ found.

The feasibility study is a step to help deal with the shortage of veterinarians in all regions of the province, no matter how they specialize, Lamontagne said.

Decentralizing the veterinary medicine program to Rimouski would offer a chance for that campus to optimize its available spaces and help renew the veterinarian pool in the province, particularly in the east, said Marie-Eve Proulx, the province’s minister for regional economic development.

It’s hoped, she said, that many of those vets would choose to stay and set themselves up in the regions once their studies are done.

Graduates of the program would be free to practice veterinary medicine where they wish, Jutras added, but the two universities are betting that at the end of their studies, the graduates will have developed an attachment to practicing outside major centres.

Dr. Christine Theoret, dean of the Universite de Montreal’s faculty of veterinary medicine, in a separate statement cited a Canadian Veterinary Medical Association study which found a shortage of veterinarians in Canada generally, but that Quebec was the most affected province.

Renewing the corps of veterinarians, she said, is therefore an issue throughout the profession, particularly for large-animal and livestock vets but also for those working with companion animals.

The completed feasibility study, she said, is expected to be submitted to the province this fall. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Crystal Mackay, chief executive officer of Loft32 and Andrew Campbell, farmer and agriculture advocate, are co-founders of the program.

Why it matters: Agriculture is a vast industry and can be complicated when one is not familiar with all the different sectors. Utensil.ca can help create more understanding across the sector.

The first component, the Utensil Guide, is free to all users and currently contains 500 words and acronyms and their meanings that are found within agriculture.

“The first thing we felt we needed to take on together is this concept of a plain language guide. The first barrier to people better understanding agriculture is the language we use and the acronyms we use,” says Mackay.

The Utensil Guide was developed to benefit anyone looking for food or farming definitions, such as consumers, teachers or students. It is designed as a toolbox of clear and concise content about farming and the food system. But Mackay said their real target audience is those who work within the food system.

“We want you to be comfortable and confident in all conversations about food and farming,” says Campbell. “Whether you are new to the agriculture and food sectors or you want to extend your knowledge beyond just one or two sectors, Utensil.ca is that kickstart to help you.”

“When we were designing (Utensil.ca) we were really thinking about people that are going to work in the food system that need a tool to help them be more effective with their jobs,” says Mackay.

The program also includes three paid components, Utensil 101, Utensil Training and Utensil Talent Stable, to increase one’s expertise within the agriculture industry.

Utensil 101 is subscription based and is a video resource library, currently launched with 40 videos and the plan to add four more each month.

Some examples include videos of either Campbell or Mackay explaining the top three things to know about dairy farming, supply management, how to communicate with consumers or how to grow your brand.

“This part is meant to be short, practical, credible information. Here’s a short video, very conversational, easy to digest, and then some links to things like the code of practices, the commodity groups, research,” says Mackay, “(From here) they can start their journey and get a little deeper.”

Utensil Training is accessible online anytime to paying customers and is the area on which Mackay says she has been focusing.

“I’ve delivered hundreds of workshops to farmers and agri-business people on how to be better communicators whether it’s how to talk to consumers, presentation skills, media training – that is by far the best way to teach people, but they are just a one-time (experience) so the concept of Utensil Training is online training modules available 24/7. People can register and take them anytime they want.”

The first one to be launched is growing your brand. It was designed with new hires in mind and Mackay says that it should be taken during the first week of new employment to help the viewer understand how to build a personal brand and how it intersects with the company or organization with which they are now employed.

“Really you’re representing the whole food system when someone says ‘where do you work’.”

Finally, the Utensil Talent Stable is the access point for expertise.

“When people go to Utensil to look up a term, or they take some training, and then they want more help, whether coaching, technical expertise, training or a speaker, we can help connect people with people to achieve what they are looking to do.”

Now that the website has been launched, Mackay says the next focus is to continue creating content and populating the website with videos.

“(The agriculture industry) has always invested in innovation, research, equipment; we are a very capital intensive sector. When Andrew Campbell and I came together to talk about Utensil and the need for it we said it’s time we start investing more in people. People are going to be the key to elevating our sector to the next level.”

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Merit Functional Foods will put the additional money toward “new equipment purchases that will support the transformation of raw inputs into value-added goods.”

The unspecified new technology is expected to further allow the Merit plant to be competitive on the global market, “creating up to 85 local jobs as part of its Phase One project, growing to more than 200 jobs in future phases,” the province said in a release Monday.

The new plant is expected to source up to 17,000 tonnes of canola from Manitoba producers in its first year of operation and 10,000 tonnes of peas at an estimated value of $14 million, the province said.

Merit, a joint venture between Vancouver-based Burcon NutraScience and former executives of Hemp Oil Canada, expects those amounts to reach 35,000 tonnes of canola and 20,000 of peas, valued at $28 million in three years.

“It’s been just a bit over a year since we commissioned our project and we’re nearing an on-track completion for the end of the year,” Merit’s co-CEO Ryan Bracken said Monday in the province’s release.

The province on Monday also announced it will put up $1 million for “cost-shared training activities” at Merit — and provide a rebate worth up to $4.5 million over up to 20 years via the new Manitoba Works Capital Incentive (MWCI) program.

The MWCI, launched in May, rebates the incremental education property taxes generated by a project for a period of up to 20 years. Approved projects get a tax rebate based on the difference between pre-development property tax revenue and the increased amount generated by the completed project.

Cost-shared activities will support training for more than 100 new positions and five existing positions, the province said.

Merit in recent months has also picked up a debt financing package of up to $85 million from “a syndicate of lenders” including Export Development Canada, Farm Credit Canada and CIBC — and another $9.5 million investment from federally backed research “supercluster” Protein Industries Canada. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The provincial transportation department on Friday announced further extensions are now available for farmers and farm workers seeking Class 1 licenses and for school bus drivers seeking Class 2 (bus) licenses.

Farmers and farm workers eligible to seek Class 1 licenses can now apply to Alberta Transportation for the Mandatory Entry-Level Training (MELT) deadline extension until Nov. 30, 2020.

A farmer or farm worker who receives the agricultural extension then has until the end of February 2021 to meet the training and testing requirements to keep a Class 1 license.

Under said requirements, farmers and farm workers must pass Class 1 “enhanced knowledge and road tests that are based on the MELT curriculum” before March 1, 2021 to keep their commercial licenses.

Transportation Minister Ric McIver, in Friday’s release, said the new extension “ensures these key industries can continue their work without disruption, particularly during the busy back-to-school and harvest seasons.”

The school bus and farming industries, he said, “are highly flexible, seasonal industries that indicated they need more time to adjust to the MELT requirements.”

Outside of the farming and school bus businesses, any Alberta driver seeking a Class 1 or Class 2 licence has been required since March 1 this year to first complete the MELT program, which includes “a government-mandated number of training hours for in-class, in-yard and in-vehicle modules.”

Extensions had already been granted in March this year allowing new drivers working in agriculture to take until Nov. 30 this year under the existing process to earn a Class 1 licence and until March 1, 2020 to comply with the commercial driver MELT program. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province announced Monday it will require a minimum of 121.5 hours of training before a driver can obtain a Class 1 commercial driver’s licence, starting March 15 next year.

A Class 1 licence is currently required for any operators of power units, semi trailers and other vehicles towing a trailer or vehicle where the gross weight of the towed unit exceeds 10,000 lbs. For now, that includes those registered as farm vehicles.

The province has been working to improve standards for training curriculums and testing for semi drivers since mid-2017, Joe Hargrave, the provincial minister responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), said in a release.

However, the province added Monday, it “continues to consult” with Saskatchewan’s ag industry on the impacts of possible mandatory training for that sector.

Power units and semis used in farming operations “generally travel less frequently, shorter distances, and through less densely populated areas,” the province said.

For that reason, starting March 15 next year, anyone wishing to drive a semi used in farming operations will instead only need to obtain an “F” endorsement on his or her existing licence. Those drivers will also be restricted to operating within Saskatchewan’s borders, the province said.

To get the “F” endorsement, an eligible driver must be at least 18 years old and not a “novice” driver, an SGI spokesperson said. An “F”-endorsed driver must also submit a report of a medical exam and pass all written and road tests.

Trip inspections — that is, the vehicle inspections required at least once in every 24-hour period in which a commercial truck is in use — will still also be required for “F” endorsed drivers, the spokesperson said.

The “F” endorsement won’t be required for farm semi truck drivers who already have Class 1 licences or have taken the mandatory training. Existing Class 1 drivers will also be grandfathered in when the new training requirement takes effect, the province added.

For new Class 1 semi drivers subject to the mandatory training, the curriculum beyond March 15 will include instruction “in a classroom, in the yard, and behind the wheel,” the province said.

“Priority” curriculum areas are to include basic driving techniques, professional driving habits, vehicle inspections and air brakes, the province said.

“Training schools will receive instruction and training on the new curriculum, and the people who deliver training will be held to higher standards.”

Also starting March 15, Class 1 road tests will be undertaken with SGI examiners only, the province added.

Furthermore, the province said Monday, a 12-month safety monitoring program is now in effect for all new semi drivers, meaning SGI will monitor semi drivers “more stringently” for a year, post-testing, to allow for “remedial action” if safety concerns arise. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Those problems may get worse in the future, as federal regulations for cattle hauling could possibly change.

“I would say it’s worse this year than other years so far, and this is early. We don’t normally run into this problem this quick,” said Rick Wright of Heartland Order Buying Co. at Virden, Man.

The trucker shortage is a seasonal issue for the cattle industry. Over the summer there are fewer sales — and fewer cattle sold. Once fall hits, sales pick up and finding truckers to haul cattle becomes more difficult.

The trucker shortage isn’t specific to livestock hauling. Industry-wide, the numbers of long-haul truck drivers are dwindling year-over-year in North America. A study from the Canadian Trucking Alliance pegged the average age of a Canadian truck driver at 48 and found that by 2024 the country will be short as many as 48,000 drivers.

“There definitely are problems with the truck driver shortage, that’s universal. Whether it’s hauling agriculture products or livestock or general freight,” said Susan Ewart, executive director for the Saskatchewan Trucking Association in Regina.

The trucking industry is working to try and attract more drivers, according to Ewart. Provincial trucking associations are working with governments to try to change the temporary foreign workers program to bring more immigrants in to fill some of the jobs. They’re also trying to find ways to attract more Canadians into the industry.

“(We’re) trying to change the image of trucking, I mean that’s what we’re talking about at our AGM this year in October. The image of the industry and what we need to do to change that and get people interested in it,” Ewart said.

At Killarney Auction Mart in western Manitoba, Allan Munroe has been hearing from buyers for years about the lack of truck drivers.

“That’s becoming a bigger issue all the time. There’s less guys wanting to become (cattle) haulers all the time. I’m hearing that’s likely to be an issue again (this year),” he said.

This year the issue is being compounded by a larger- and earlier-than-usual fall run. Dry conditions across the Prairies have led to reduced hay cuts and dried-out pastures. Many producers are finding themselves forced to sell cattle earlier than normal.

“At this time of year we start to get into the long-distance hauling into Alberta, into the U.S., into Ontario and Quebec. Manitoba’s basically an exporting province, we finish very few cattle here,” Wright said.

Wright is currently booking trucks two weeks in advance; usually he would only book four or five days ahead. As a buyer he isn’t paid until cattle are delivered in good condition, so any extra days he has to keep them, he has to pay for. In the end, he may find himself having to limit how high he’ll bid at the auction marts.

“Also it’s the efficiency of doing it, of keeping the cattle healthy and moving them, because a lot of these calves in the fall are right off the cows, so they’re fairly fragile. So we need to get wheels underneath them terribly quick,” Wright said.

In order to haul livestock, truck drivers must take special training. According to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, under current regulations and livestock hauling training, 99 per cent of the time or more, cattle are reaching destinations injury- and incident-free.

Currently, regulations for shipping livestock in Canada under the Health of Animals Act are under review. The main recommendations in regard to cattle are to reduce the maximum time spent straight-hauling, without unloading animals, to 36 hours from 48.

“I think one of the areas of concern that we do see, and it would have an effect on the entire industry whether it’s trucking or cattle producers themselves that are either shipping or receiving cattle, is the reduction of hours,” said Brady Stadnicki, policy analyst with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.

Cattle from Western Canada can face long shipping times when being shipped out east. Under current regulations most of those drives can be made within 48 hours, but if that maximum is reduced it would require more stops.

The cattle industry is concerned there isn’t enough infrastructure to support more stops. The main rest stop for cattle being hauled east is at Thunder Bay, Ont. There is concern the stop isn’t big enough to handle the increased traffic due to reduced hauling times. There’s also concern about the well-being of the animals as the extra unloading could raise the chance of disease transfer between the cattle.

“From a welfare and biosecurity prospective as well, the more times that you stop to unload and reload is where research has shown where the majority of injuries will actually happen,” Stadnicki said.

According to Wright, the possible new regulations could cause even more problems for the truck driver shortage. Reducing the amount of hours cattle are allowed to be shipped would require drivers to haul for longer periods and reduce the amount of loads they would be able to ship.

“If these rules come in, as tight as what the suggestions have been made, it’s even going to enhance that problem. And we’re dealing with a perishable commodity that’s a seasonal commodity,” he said.

The government has gathered feedback on the proposals and it is expected the final recommendations will be released within the next year.

— Ashley Robinson writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow her at @AshleyMR1993 on Twitter.

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