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The industry needs training to improve worker expertise and ensure farm employers have skills to manage their workforce

 Jennifer Wright

This article was also published in the Summer 2020 issue of the National Career Development Association’s Career Developments magazine.

For decades, Canada has been a world-leading exporter of agricultural products, and our contribution to food production is expected to continue to grow in the years to come. Unfortunately, most provinces and many commodities in Canada are affected by the agriculture sector’s chronic and significant labour shortages. In 2018, more than 16,400 positions went unfilled, costing the industry $2.9 billion in lost sales. The inability to find a skilled and knowledgeable workforce directly affects sales, productivity and expansion plans.

The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council’s (CAHRC) Agriculture Forecast to 2029 helps us understand today’s agricultural workforce requirements to be able to source and train an adequate workforce. The forecast confirms that future operational success, expansion and innovation are not possible if the industry does not increase youth interest, focus on effective recruitment channels, invest in knowledge and skill enhancement, and expand retention practices to secure the labour pool required for the future.

Identifying key challenges

As part of the Agriculture Forecast research, CAHRC conducted a survey that had participation across the country by industry, types of workforce (eg, management, owners, family workforce, employees and foreign workers) and across all provinces. Over 1,700 farm employers, managers and employees participated in the labour market forecast, including more than 1,300 farm business owners.

The survey found that the key challenges in attracting and retaining workers included too much or too difficult manual labour and that the seasonal nature of work does not interest applicants. The rural location of operations and low wages were also reported as challenges in attracting and retaining workers. Rural areas are also seeing declining populations, which means a decline in the local labour force. A need to increase awareness of the opportunities in agriculture and food production was also mentioned in the survey and may affect the ability of food producers to attract applicants.

Evolving skills

In many industries, advancements in technology have reduced labour requirements, but they have also resulted in the need for workers with highly technical and advanced skills. Data from the forecast indicates that the evolving skills required to work in many agriculture sectors will demand training to improve worker expertise.

A shift in skills also brings with it new career opportunities. This includes training related to data management, oversight of digital equipment and specialized animal care. The development and promotion of agriculture-related training and careers is essential to create interest in working in agriculture. Businesses, educational institutions and government will need to work with industry to co-ordinate training and career development programs that address the need for specific competencies and knowledge development within the agriculture sector.

“Continuing to find ways to make agriculture an attractive and viable career path will be an important strategy in accessing more of the domestic workforce,” says Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst, Executive Director of CAHRC. “It will take concerted effort, multiple strategies and a sustained approach so that we can truly make a difference. Developing and implementing training and education programs that support the future needs of the sector will certainly be one solution for ensuring a healthy future for Canadian agriculture.”

Read more

• Reimagining tomorrow’s agriculture to attract and retain youth
• The future of agriculture in the United States

Developing HR expertise

 Employees should not be the only focus. We must also ensure employers are adequately trained to effectively work with their staff. Many farmers rely on international workers for labour. However, applications for the Government of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) programs are complex, and navigating these initiatives requires a deeper understanding of human resource management techniques. Not following all the regulations related to TFW programs can result in serious consequences for farmers’ businesses.

Regardless of the source of labour, ensuring farm employers have human resource skills to manage their workforce is critical. The adoption of best practices in human resource management and manager training will assist the agriculture sector with the development of more effective recruitment and retention strategies. Farm business owners need to be knowledgeable about the latest human resource practices to support employees on the farm.

Farm managers also need to be knowledgeable about human resource practices to reduce turnover and associated costs. Retaining employees is easier and less expensive than finding new workers. Giving farm business owners the tools they need to be able to hire and keep qualified, reliable employees will be vital to lowering turnover costs. To address the labour issues identified in the research, CAHRC has developed agriculture-specific human resource tools and training programs designed to help modern farm operations manage their workforce.

Securing the future

This data and understanding of the current agri-workforce issue highlights the fact that unless the agriculture sector can adapt and secure a reliable, qualified and skilled workforce, our ability to produce food now and in the future will be at risk. Information and data from the labour market forecast can help us find solutions and develop strategies to address workforce issues effectively. Ensuring human resource best practices are well entrenched across the industry will also support attraction of workers to the industry and retention of workers once they join the industry.

Jennifer Wright, CAHRC’s Senior HR Advisor and Stakeholder Engagement Specialist,  grew up on a family farm and farm equipment dealership in Southwestern Ontario. She has worked in HR policy, leadership, inclusion and diversity, recruitment and retention in agriculture and other industries for 20+ years.

References

CAHRC. (n.d.) How Labour Challenges Will Shape the Future of Agriculture in Canada: Agriculture Forecast to 2029. Retrieved from cahrc-ccrha.ca/sites/default/files/CAHRC-National-Report-FINAL-August-19-2019.pdf

A tale of one community’s life-changing adaptation through innovation and co-operation

Kirsten Hathaway

Among the many observations and lessons learned through the COVID-19 crisis, the most effective responses on a global scale have been those that have equally engaged public, private and civil society sectors to collaborate and find innovative solutions to the acute challenges being faced by governments, communities, institutions, businesses and citizens.

This tripartite model, at first glance, makes common sense. Why wouldn’t all three sectors aim to work together to identify solutions to common challenges? It must be happening all the time for our society to function properly.

The fact is, it rarely happens, and no formal, easily replicable model exists. The Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC), based in Quebec, is actively working to bridge the three sectors by building a model that integrates all three equally and confers the benefits to all accordingly. This type of tripartite collaboration organized around an opportunity can generate sustainable economic benefits that balance the needs of the whole community, especially in rural areas that tend to feel the impact of external economic forces more severely.

A current working example, as outlined in this article, highlights how this type of collaboration model can affect a community, particularly when its creation and execution pivot on the essential role of a central facilitator, such as CEDEC.

Learning and earning at Mont Sutton

Mont Sutton is a key economic driver in its namesake Quebec town, drawing tourists during the winter and summer seasons, and generating secondary business activity related to hospitality. Like many businesses across sectors, the province and the country, Mont Sutton faced a critical labour shortage that affected its ability to operate at full capacity for several consecutive seasons. Since the mountain serves a bilingual customer base, the business also required a certain number of bilingual employees in key roles, adding an additional challenge given the small labour pool.

A CEDEC-led action plan rapidly aligned Mont Sutton, the Eastern Townships School Board and Services Quebec around an integrated workforce training model. The region’s first “Earn as You Learn” francization program targeted English speakers and provincial newcomers and was designed to help both existing and potential Mont Sutton employees develop business-specific, French-language customer service skills that would enable them to work at Mont Sutton during the 2019-2020 winter season.

“It took some time to bring the three sectors around the table but when everybody was on board with the same vision, we had to find innovative ways of then moving [the program] forward,” recalled Nina Kim, CEDEC Project Manager.

“This type of tripartite collaboration organized around an opportunity can generate sustainable economic benefits that balance the needs of the whole community.”

Equally creative strategies would be needed to ensure success. So, during the off-season, the partners developed a plan to integrate program candidates into Mont Sutton’s workforce through pre-season essential skills training, with jobs ready and waiting for them before the ski centre’s peak period.

All partners recognized the innovative nature of the endeavour. “Francization is already offered through the school board,” said program teacher Marie-France Argouin, “but adapting it on such a level for a [specific] workplace as such was really new … real innovation.”

For Mont Sutton, which had the added value of having the training onsite, the benefits were clear, as their HR Co-ordinator, Veronique Dumont pointed out: “As soon as the season starts our employees are already qualified, trained; they know the jargon, they know the mountain, because the whole program was developed around our operations.”

Eleven participants completed the first cohort of the remunerated 10-week/300-hour francization and training program in November 2019. Graduates, in turn, became ideal ambassadors and coaches for onboarding new recruits to the program, as well as prime candidates for continuing their Mont Sutton employment experience in the summer tourism season ahead. The ski centre is now looking forward to a mutually rewarding second phase.

Perhaps the experience is best summed up by program graduate Arley Guzman [translated from French]: “For me, this training was like a door opening. Once we enter, we can do anything we want in life,” adding that his enhanced French language skills have opened him up to Quebec culture outside of work as well.

But CEDEC’s work, like the project itself, was just beginning. While CEDEC is considering how the model can be adapted to other sectors, Sutton partners are exploring how the program can be adapted to meet the tourism sector’s needs year-round.

Meanwhile, back in town

As the Town of Sutton witnessed this early exciting win with a key economic player in the region, officials were eager to engage in public-private-civil society collaboration, too. With the ultimate goal of increasing the town’s tax base to provide community services, conversations always come back to the imminent need of workers to fill labour gaps, affordable housing for those workers, and a high quality of life to attract and retain them. CEDEC delivered an objective, evidence-based economic portrait of Sutton to help inform dialogue between the municipality and stakeholders.

The partners are continuing their exploration of opportunities both in and beyond the original three focal areas (workforce development, agri-foods and affordable housing). Subsequent meetings with local entrepreneurs have moved projects forward. In particular, this has mobilized stakeholders around agri-food opportunities through the creation of a local food transformation “hub.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges, the use of video conferencing technology combined with the collective goodwill and motivation of the partners to forge on has mitigated the loss of momentum.

Mont Sutton, after gearing up its staff for the winter season, suffered dearly due to its forced closure early on in Quebec’s response to COVID-19. However, through ongoing engagement in the partnership, it is already mobilizing to rehire employee/trainees for the summer season both at the hill and in partnership with a nearby summer hospitality tourism business.

“Our tripartite partnership with CEDEC, the school board and the provincial government has remained strong during the COVID-19 crisis due to our consistent communication and the solid relationship we’ve developed over the last year. This relationship has enabled us to get through the pandemic with our feet on the ground while planning ahead for the start of Phase II in June,” said Dumont.

Sutton’s success story demonstrates the many positive outcomes of public, private and civil society collaboration: this model has generated greater worker mobility within Mont Sutton; increased the capacity of the local tourism sector due to increased bilingualism and customer service skills; and it is giving one of the region’s major employers (350 employees) a fighting chance to recover in the “new normal” post COVID-19.

Kirsten Hathaway has led the CEDEC communications department since 2004 and is committed to the organization’s evolution as it mobilizes public, private and civil society sector collaboration around economic growth opportunities and generates tangible benefits for communities and individuals. To learn more about the model and other collaborations such as in Mont Sutton, consider attending the Creating Inclusive Economies: Building Bridges Between Public, Private and Civil Society Sectors Conference, co-hosted by CEDEC and the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) planned for Fall 2021 in Rimouski, Quebec.

Exploring labour shortages in US agriculture and potential solutions for the future

Melissa A. Messer

This article was also published in the Summer 2020 issue of the National Career Development Association’s Career Developments magazine.

As we enter summer, many of our favourite foods will soon be ripe and ready to be harvested. However, what may not be ready is a workforce that is available when crops are.

Current labour shortages

The American Farm Bureau Federation indicates that US agriculture needs 1.5 to 2 million hired workers (Economic Impact of Immigration, 2020). These challenging, often seasonal positions are essential to food production – but few US citizens are willing to fill them. A California Farm Bureau Federation survey found that 56% of California farmers have been unable to find all the workers they need over the past five years (Survey: California farms face continuing employee shortages, 2019).

Given this chronic labour shortage, immigrants – mostly from Mexico – play an increasingly crucial role in our food system. Foreign-born workers can legally come to the United States to perform short-term farm labour under the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program, often referred to as the H-2A visa program.

Rules are in place so that the H-2A program does not take jobs from domestic workers or lower the average wage. Before hiring H-2A workers, farm employers must demonstrate to the DOL that they are unable to recruit US citizens for their open positions. They are also required to pay a state-specific minimum wage that may not be lower than the average wage for crop and livestock workers in their region during the prior year, known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate.

Once approved, H-2A visa holders are allowed to work in the US temporarily. The visa can be re-approved annually for up to three years. A worker loses their H-2A status if they leave their job. After a worker has three years of H-2A status, they are required to leave the United States for at least three months before applying to receive a H-2A visa again. The H-2A visa does not apply to a worker’s family members and does not give workers a way to gain permanent legal status. Unlike the H-2B program, there is no cap set on the total number of H-2A visas that can be granted each year.

Read more

• Canada’s agriculture sector must adapt to overcome chronic labour shortages
• Reimagining tomorrow’s agriculture to attract and retain youth
• North American rural workforce development: Poised for growth

The future of farming

“By the year 2050, US growers will need to reach an impressive level of food production to help feed a growing world population. Fewer in number, they will operate multifaceted businesses with stunning new technology to increase efficiency on farms.” (The Future of Farming, 2020)

There are several predictions as to what the future of farming will look like and what additional labor demands will be:

• Food demand increases – Farmers will be expected to increase their food production by 70% in order to meet the needs compared to 2007
• Consolidation acceleration – The 2012 census data revealed the significant number of older farmers (65 and older) who will soon be exiting the workforce with fewer younger growers to replace them.
• High-tech solutions – In order to deal with the lack of labour, it is likely that more tech solutions will be used including drones, robots, increased use of data in farm management, gene editing and other emerging agriculture technology.

Resources for career counsellors and professionals

• National FFA and Discovery Education have joined forces to create a robust, comprehensive career resource called Ag Explorer to help you explore the broad range of careers within the industry of agriculture.
• AgHires is a recruiting, job-posting website and HR company for the Agriculture and Food Production industries. AgHires helps agribusinesses, farms, grain operations, specialty crops, food processors, livestock, biotechnology and other relatable businesses hire employees.
• The year 2050 is a key moment in time – the world’s population will be a projected 10 billion. Food production needs are expected to rise by 60-70% and changing agronomic conditions will put pressure on agricultural yields. Journey 2050 is a free agriculture education program that challenges participants to answer the question “How will we sustainably feed 9 billion people by the year 2050?”

Melissa A. Messer, MHS, is the Director of Product Development for Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. She oversees all new product acquisitions and development and manages a team of project directors and quality control specialists. Messer is the author of several assessments, including the Academic Achievement Battery (AAB) series, the Working Styles Assessment (WSA), and the Work Values Inventory (WVI). She has been the Editor of NCDA’s Career Developments Magazine since 2015.

References

Economic Impact of Immigration. (2020, May, 11). Retrieved from fb.org/issues/immigration-reform/agriculture-labor-reform/economic-impact-of-immigration

Gasiorowski-Denis, E. (2017). The future of farming. iso.org/news/Ref2183.htm

Survey: California farms face continuing employee shortages. (2019). cfbf.com/news/survey-california-farms-face-continuing-employee-shortages/

Efforts must be made to attract new industries and build skills-training pathways in rural communities

Rebecca Merlenbach and Sarah Patterson-Mills

This article was also published in the Summer 2020 issue of the National Career Development Association’s Career Developments magazine.

Workforce development, a relatively recent term and concept that has developed over the past two decades, describes a wide range of activities and public policies related to learning and skill building for entry into the world of work. A 2019 Federal Reserve National Brief, Investing in America’s Workforce, outlined several rural workforce development priorities based on a series of dialogues between the Atlanta, Chicago and Minneapolis Federal Reserve and community leaders, policy-makers and higher-education institutions. These areas were:

• Education and technology training opportunities to expand skill development
• Economic diversification
• Improving the quality of jobs available
• Enhanced infrastructure that allows for access to technology
• Partnerships across non-for-profit, public and private sectors to facilitate economic regional growth (Bozarth & Strifler, 2019, p. 2)

Historically, rural employment opportunities have consisted largely of blue-collar and unskilled jobs including agriculture and reliance on natural resources. As discussed in the list above, in order for workforce development in rural areas to be successful, public policy efforts must widen the scope in order to attract new industries and grow rural populations, which in turn strengthens the economy.

Read more

• Context matters in rural workforce development: 7 important facts
• Broadband in rural communities key to economic development

In the US and Canada, 70 years ago, over 70% of workers lived in remote areas while today the inverse is true, with 66% of workers living in urban areas (Leeson, 2018). In the US, rural counties have experienced a 3% population growth rate since 2000, which can be attributed to gains in rural communities on the edges of metropolitan areas, while more remote counties continued to lose population. In Canada today, 81.4% of the population lives in urban and suburban areas (Plecher, 2019). Thus, in the US and Canada, the lack of available workers adversely affects rural economies, which stymies population growth, eroding stability in these areas.

To ensure American and Canadian career practitioners are able to effectively serve those in rural communities, access issues may need to be considered and resolved. Internet and other technological tools to reach our clients may be less available, for instance. Cost for counselling services may be an additional consideration and practitioners may consider sliding or reduced fee scales to make services affordable for those who are earning less per capita. In addition to providing affordable and accessible sessions to rural clients, access to more training programs is essential. Students and employees who are looking for a sustainable future may need different training programs such as those in agriculture or other non-traditional post-secondary pathways. Career counsellors are encouraged to advocate for social justice and advocate for these types of accessibility.

Once barriers are overcome, there are many strengths that a rural workforce provides for the entire economy of a country such as food supply for export and domestic consumption. There appears to be a rural population shift in Canada and the US with increased immigrant populations settling in them (Ajilore & Willingham, 2019). As career practitioners and social justice advocates, we can help our clients recognize and develop their own social capital through a review of interests, abilities and values they hold. Government funding can go a long way to growing workforce opportunities in rural areas. Land is cheaper and larger distribution centres and manufacturing may be more profitable in these areas. In addition, natural resources and community social capitol bolster the threads in these communities, and with government subsidies, institutions of higher education can also contribute to the growth of these communities.

As new industries and technologies are introduced, higher-education institutions can support these efforts by adding programs that provide skills training to rural employees. Since 2017, partnerships between governing bodies and community colleges in the United States have increased focus on legislation to provide more equitable access to education for adult learners, especially in states largely composed of rural populations. These actions are removing barriers and providing funding to support short-term programs that meet the local industry needs (NCLS, 2018). Short-term skills-training programs offered by community colleges and job-training centres have wrap-around benefits for the economy and must be better equipped to “nimbly” respond to current rural workforce demands (Dews, 2013). These programs benefit the employee by increasing their skills and abilities, making them more valuable, and thus – hopefully –increasing their wages. Employers benefit from partnerships with these programs, as they can provide a pipeline to human capital for companies that are experiencing worker shortage.

Rural areas across the US and Canada are home to different cultures, people, businesses and infrastructure, and are far from geographically or economically homogenous. Rural areas are less densely populated and less connected to major centres of employment and thus face unique challenges affecting job growth and advanced work skills training. It is our responsibility to the profession to ensure we provide services that are accessible to all, are inclusive and social-justice minded, and honour the diversity within and between communities.

Sarah Patterson-Mills, PhD, LPC is the Program Chair for School Counseling at Lindenwood University for the Illinois and Missouri Campuses. She has worked in developing college career centers and directing them over five years.

Robyn Gunn is pursuing a Master’s of Arts at Lindenwood University and has a BA in Psychology (cum laude) with concentration in special education. In her final year of Master’s in Counseling Program-School Counseling at Lindenwood University, she also works as a Graduate Assistant in the Counseling Department.

References

Ajilore, O. & Willingham, Z. (2019, October 21) Adversity and assets: identifying rural opportunities. Center for American Progress. americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2019/10/21/476097/adversity-assets-identifying-rural-opportunities/

Bozarth, A. & Strifler, W. M. (2019). Strengthening workforce development in rural areas. The 2019 Federal Reserve System Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Retrieved from: investinwork.org/-/media/Files/reports/strengthening-workforce-development-rural-areas.pdf

Dews. F. (2013). Closing the Skills Gap through Workforce Development Policy. BROOKINGS.

Leeson, G. W. (2018). The growth, ageing and urbanisation of our world. Journal of Population Ageing, 11(2), 107-115. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12062-018-9225-7

National Career Development Association (2015).  Code of Ethics.  ncda.org/aws/NCDA/asset_manager/get_file/3395

National Conference of State Legislatures (2018). Higher education legislation in 2017. ncsl.org/research/education/higher-education-legislation-in-2017.aspx

Opinko, D. (2019, October 3). Canada’s population grows by more than 500,000 in one year. Lethbridge News. lethbridgenewsnow.com/2019/10/03/canadas-population-grows-by-more-than-500000-in-one-year/

Plecher, H.(2019, December 11). Urbanization in Canada 2018. Retrieved on 2/25/2019 from: statista.com/statistics/271208/urbanization-in-canada/

Canada’s farming sector needs an image shift to halt the exodus of young people

 Abdul-Rahim Abdulai

What led you into farming? This question anchored my research to understand what motivates people to farm in Newfoundland (Abdulai, 2018). “Agriculture was always in the blood, a family tradition many folks embraced,” said one farmer while lamenting the demise of farming in Newfoundland. “My parents owned a garden centre when I was a child, and I grew up in that sort of business,” said another vegetable farmer. For many, entering farming was all about “growing up to farm the family land.”

The experiences from Newfoundland are not unique; agriculture historically benefitted from a consistent supply of labour from within “family farm” units. In 2011, family farms constituted over 92% of Canada’s farms (Statistics Canada, 2013). These farms are not managed by a commune, co-operative or a non-family corporation, and are more likely to be passed from generation to generation (Knezevic, Bronson & Clément, 2020). The farm family always was a “factory” ready to produce the next generation of agriculture enthusiasts – people who will end up in farming or agriculture-related careers (Cummins, 2009). However, my research in Newfoundland points to a decline in this vital survival trait of agriculture.

Farm population exodus: The tale of two farmers

I found that our social environment motivates and shapes individual decisions, including our career paths (Dodd, 2011; Hamill, 2012). Early life experiences and socialization influence our personal decisions and choices, ultimately guiding our professional trajectories. Notably, personal ties, advice (from parents and friends) and the beliefs one is exposed to about different professions influence the career decisions of young people. Agriculture is no exception to this. My research, however, revealed some nuances in how the family can affect career pathways in farm families:

Farmer 1: “I am a farmer. I discourage my children [from farming]. I have two kids; my daughter is a physiotherapist, and my son works in a consultant company. I did everything to discourage them from this way of life [on the farm]. I can’t imagine what I would have done, why I would have encouraged them.”

Farmer 2: “So, I was a firm believer that when I had kids, and I had a farm, they will stay. Once they became old enough, everybody pulled away, everybody moved … But you know, they didn’t want – once they graduated with some college or whatever – they didn’t come back to the farm or something like that.”

These quotes describe tales of two farm families: One farmer who had a passion for keeping the farm in the family, and another who encouraged his children to pursue careers outside agriculture. Yet, the outcomes of both tales were the same: the departure of the young from the farm. For both families,  their inability to retain their children in the sector was down to perceptions of farming being hard work, stressful and less profitable.

The exodus of young people partly defines the declining farming population in Newfoundland and Canada and contributes to persistent labour challenges in the industry. According to Statistics Canada, Newfoundland’s and Canada’s farmer populations are aging. Concurrently, the number of farmers who are under 35 years old in Canada has declined by over 70% since 1991 (Qualman, Akram-Lodhi, Desmarais & Srinivasan, 2018). Likewise, the number of farm operators declined by about 35% between 2001 and 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017). What drives the exodus may vary, but the image of farming as a challenging, unprofitable profession discourages even those who grew up around agriculture. The industry suffers from an image issue, which drives young people away.

Read more

• Canada’s agriculture sector must adapt to overcome chronic labour shortages
• The future of agriculture in the United States

Re-discovering agriculture to motivate the younger generation

While farming is hard work, there is more to the agriculture industry than what is known to most youth.

Technological changes are reshaping farm work and career opportunities. Last year, RBC released the Farmer 4.0 report (RBC, 2019), which described the farmers of tomorrow as innovative, highly skilled, data-driven and diverse. These transformations are very much on the way, and the farm community can help bolster the talent pipeline by shifting the image of the industry to be more forward-looking. Sharing the diverse opportunities available in farming can counter misconceptions that farming is a dated or old profession. This may attract new people to the agricultural industry while also encouraging young people to consider the future of the farm.

Likewise, school and agricultural institutions must swiftly develop and/or alter programs to reflect new skill demands. Courses that incorporate new farming skills and needs would allow youth to understand the diverse opportunities the sector can offer and how they can shape the future of agriculture.

Finally, youth, especially those from agricultural households, could play a pivotal role. Since they have opportunities to experience and experiment in the sector, leveraging the power of the digital world to explore new experiences of farming could help them learn skills that they are excited to bring to the industry. More internal youth engagement will attract outsiders to help overcome current labour and skill challenges in Canadian agriculture.

Abdul-Rahim Abdulai is a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Guelph, and affiliated with the Arrell Food Institute. Abdulai’s interest is in the future of agriculture, through workforce development and digital technological advancements. His research asks questions on the motivational dimensions of attracting and retaining people in agricultural workforce, as well as how to respond to changing skill requirements triggered by emerging digital agricultural technologies.

References

 Abdulai, A. (2018). Motivating the future farmers? Understanding farmer attraction and retention policy interventions in Newfoundland and Labrador’s agriculture. (Master’s thesis, Memorial University). research.library.mun.ca/13375/

Cummins, H. (2009). Rural children’s perceptions of life on the land in Southwestern Ontario. The Canadian Geographer, 53(1), 63–83.

Dodd, J. (2011). Sustaining agriculture in NSW high schools-an assessment of the use of examples from alternative agriculture and investigation into the role of high school agriculture in meeting the future needs of the industry. Charles Sturt University. permaculturenews.org/files/JDoddDissertation.pdf

Hamill, W. G. (2012). The factors that contribute to young people’s attraction to, and retention in agricultural careers. (Master’s thesis, RMIT University). researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:160392

Knezevic, I. Bronson, K. and Clément, C. (2020). What is (not) a family farm? fledgeresearch.ca/resources-results/food-growing-and-harvesting/what-is-not-a-family-farm/

Qualman, D., Akram-Lodhi, A. H., Desmarais, A. A., & Srinivasan, S. (2018). Forever young? The crisis of generational renewal on Canada’s farms. Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation, 5(3), 100-127.

RBC (2019). Farmer 4.0. How the coming skills revolution can transform agriculture rbc.com/economics/economic-reports/pdf/other-reports/Farmer4_aug2019.pdf

Statistics Canada (2013). Chapter 1. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/95-640-x/2011001/p1/p1-01-eng.htm#I

Statistics Canada (2013). Number of families on unincorporated farms, classified by family type, major source of operator income and income classes in the year prior to the census. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3210019401

Statistics Canada. (2017). Total number of farms and farm operators. https://doi.org/10.25318/3210044001-eng

In the ‘champagne region’ of marijuana cultivation, legal changes present opportunity for career professionals to connect with resilient but reticent jobseekers

Phil Sarsons

Rural and remote areas are anything but barren. They have a lot to offer, and they also face unique challenges. Though the natural beauty is often abundant, formal year-round employment is generally not. Some locations even retain a sense of being frontier-like, where the pace of life and the pressures of urbanization collide.

The Kootenay region, which comprises a significant portion of the Interior of British Columbia, certainly fits this mold. The geography is very diverse, and so are its peoples and their histories. This region is both rugged and quaint, inviting and rustic, yet not without affluence. It boasts about 120,000 residents (Work BC, n.d.), many of whom have developed resilience, resourcefulness and humility in an area that is off the beaten path and facing economic challenges.

In the West Kootenay, both clients’ resilience and the need for career practitioners to meet local needs were highlighted as the region started adapting to one of its latest challenges: cannabis legalization.

The times, they still are a changin’

The West Kootenay is home to many historically “exiled” cultures: the interned Japanese, Vietnam War draft dodgers and the Russian Doukhobors, as well as people seeking ways of life outside of the Canadian norm. With the comparatively recent addition of cannabis growers (residents refer to West Kootenay as the “champagne region” of Canadian cannabis) the regional culture continues to carry a non-conformist sentiment. As a result, delivering government-sponsored services in this remote and rural region has had its challenges.

This tension became very apparent as the new cannabis regulations prompted reactions ranging from dejection to fear to fierce optimism. Amid such transitions, populations that may have otherwise been reticent to engage with government-sponsored services found their way into my office.

I experienced an uptick of clients who had been cultivating marijuana prior to legalization disclosing their concerns about how legalization would affect their futures. Would their work survive this transition? Could their farms afford to align with the incoming standards and building codes required by regulation? Many clients expressed concerns that having cultivated cannabis would by default leave them behind on accessing EI-funded employment services, because they had not paid into it previously. While clients’ resilience and self-sufficiency had been serving them rather well prior to legalization, regulations have made various long-standing culture gaps very pronounced. In inadvertently being barred from accessing EI supports, long-time cannabis growers are emblematic of an isolation often experienced in this region – of being in a world they may otherwise feel too vulnerable to participate in, and of the feeling that capitulation into the status quo is not necessarily a feasible or reasonable thing to do.

Client vulnerabilities great and small

Giving assurance of their privacy (as outlined in FOIPPA, BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) was key in gaining their alliance. All the classic tools for career counselling then naturally came to the fore, beginning with conversations around values, and then skills and interests. The area does not lack for passionately minded individuals, and so an appeal to that energy helped establish trust. By recognizing the value of clients’ self-esteem, resilience and courage, we made our services more welcoming to them, giving clients the opportunity to assert their creativity within a dynamically changing landscape. Even the primary task of developing a resume and naming their skills helped clients understand how assertive and directed an individual can be while job searching.

It was not surprising that many of these clients expressed a desire for autonomy in their work. Developing avenues of self-employment that leveraged their abundance of creative energy and knowledge of various aspects of horticulture seemed key to their successes and survival.

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Conversations also revolved around how to best refocus their abilities toward different avenues of work – whether this would be in agriculture or if they would need to embark on an entirely new career path, or relocate to a larger urban centre. Though the intent of legalization has a welcoming feel around it, much of the net effect has been a kind of displacement. Many people have been unable to compete with the “big money” that has entered the space. Given that the employment landscape was comparably bleak to begin with, and because legalization has thus far interrupted an otherwise-thriving cannabis agricultural industry, WorkBC Services has been compelled to engage pro-actively to help improve outcomes of these jobseekers in the community by diversifying services.

“By recognizing the value of clients’ self-esteem, resilience and courage, we made our services more welcoming to them, giving clients the opportunity to assert their creativity within a dynamically changing landscape.”

Addressing the cultural barrier in remote settings

Our organization developed Liaison roles to further catalyze our work in the region to address situational and systemic barriers, and I saw an opportunity to give agency to these populations. The situation demanded a robust and creative response, and shifting toward liaison work was exactly what was needed. Liaisons are granted time to research their chosen area of specialty and leverage the banner of employment services to address systemic barriers. “Multi-Barrier Liaison – Rural Focus” was added to my title of Employment Counsellor, which helped me engage more deeply with residents in need to determine what employment services can do for them in the long term.

Career practitioners should not only embrace the frontier-like feeling of rural areas, but recognize the immense opportunity presented in becoming an advocate for remote and rural populations. In this instance, the West Kootenay holds an immense invitation to tune in to the unique value propositions of the clientele, and to support an industry of global significance. The West Kootenay never presents a dull moment in this regard, and in the years to come, the local cannabis industry may well present itself as responsive and as resilient as ever.

Phil Sarsons is an Employment Counsellor at the Nelson WorkBC office, Kootenay Career Development Society. He holds a Liaison position for rural and remote clients, with a focus on agriculture, and he has a BFA in acting, having retired from the professional theatre many years ago.

References

Work BC. (n.d.). Kootenay. workbc.ca/Labour-Market-Information/Regional-Profiles/Kootenay