Canada needs 30,000 immigrant farmers
By 2023, a third of Canada's currently active farmers will be retired. The country hopes to replace them with immigrants.
Canada's agri-food sector is in trouble: 40% of local farmers will retire within 10 years, and 66% of them have no successors. Canada expects to face a shortage of at least 24,000 farm and mill workers in the future. The consequence will be a threat to the country's food security and will lead to higher food prices. Urgent measures must be taken to prevent supermarket shelves from becoming empty in the next few years.
One of them could be the restart of the immigration pilot for workers in the agri-food sector. Ottawa reports that as of February 2023, more than 1,500 people had been accepted through the program. The pilot was designed to serve up to 2,750 people. The program will end in May 2023. The Ministry of Immigration plans to make changes to it. They believe it's not enough just to accept more immigrants, they also need to raise the prestige, reliability and pay of farming jobs. If immigrants do not benefit from farming and cattle breeding, they will leave their jobs in favor of other, more promising ones. The country is now thinking about how to avoid this outcome.
Farmers say they and their visiting colleagues will need financial and informational support. The price of farmland has risen 20% in the last 5 years. Now CAD 1 million is not enough to buy a farm. The way out is special loans from the government for farmers to help them buy land and equipment. Beginners will also need information: where and how to buy or rent equipment, where to sell crops, etc. Often this knowledge is shared by experienced neighbors-farmers, but what about those who do not have them? These data are suggested to be collected by the state.
Mechanization of production processes does not help: the number of employees is reduced faster. For example, there are planters that can replace 10 people, but you still need at least one worker to operate it. Canadian farmers report that they no longer rely on the help of their compatriots and see the way out only in attracting migrants. Many of them are ready to become employers for foreigners.
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