Grainswest - Tech 2022

Tech 2022 grainswest.com 29 Reeve explained there are ongoing shortages in trucking, trades, managerial and general labour positions. Ag-focused technical expertise is harder to come by and Reeve said there are instances of farmers receiving technical support from providers overseas because no one is available locally. Certain trades are resorting to extreme measures to attract talent. In Ontario, for instance, the need for electricians is so great the provincial government has committed to provide free training and paid apprenticeships. “Nothing comes free in life unless it’s desperate,” said Reeve. She also pointed to negative perceptions that persist despite increased salaries for many positions, including ag mechanics. “We need to do more.” Another recruitment hurdle industry faces, shops are almost always situated in rural areas; a drawback for some. However, farm consolidation has been the main factor, said John Schmeiser, president of NAEDA Canada. “That was a good draw for us,” said Schmeiser of farm kids. He noted rural talent continues to shrink. “A big pool of our employees has gotten smaller and smaller, decade after decade.” He first heard about labour shortages 25 years ago when a frustrated dealer member could not find a quality service technician. A quarter century later, Schmeiser does not believe the situation has remedied itself. The industry has done a poor recruitment job with high school students, especially in cities. “You have to be visible with high school students about the potential that exists in our industry,” he said. “Ag has done so well in the last 10 years with growth and sophistication, but if you’re not front and centre all the time, something else is going to capture their attention. We’ve made incredible inroads here and we’re seeing some success and participation, but we still have more work to do.” In an attempt to stem the scarcity of mechanics, NAEDA— when it was simply the Western Equipment Dealers Association—created endowments with Olds College, SaskPoly, Parkland College and Assiniboine Community College. In turn, the institutions have given out more than $1.5 million to students $1,000 at a time since 1999. In 1997, Schmeiser’s organization established the Canada Equipment Dealers Foundation—a registered charity that provides scholarships to current and potential dealership employees to boost retention. The American version, the Western Equipment Dealers Foundation, launched in 2016 and has doled out 100 scholarships to date to current or prospective employees. On the dealership side, Schmeiser said in Western Canada alone, more than $1 billion has been invested in new dealership facilities over the last five years. The new dealerships have added state of the art service shops that have provided greater tools, training and pay. The government of Alberta’s 2019 Wage and Salary Survey noted the average ag mechanic earned $38.92 per hour and the highest five per cent reported an average wage of $57.95 per hour. According to a NAEDA 2020 survey, the average shop rate in Canada was $140 per hour while the average ag mechanic earned about $45 per hour. “It’s not uncommon with bonuses and overtime to be over $100,000,” said Schmeiser. He noted certain sectors still offer greater pay, but this trade offers “more stable employment.” NAEDA has also been instrumental in the establishment of dual credit programs within school divisions. It first launched in Saskatchewan’s Sun West School Division after the investment of more than $600,000 and 10 years of work, which was followed by Alberta’s Chinook’s Edge School Division. Schmeiser said Manitoba and Ontario will jointly roll out together in 2022-23. Both were delayed due to COVID-19. The training consists of 40 hours of online learning, 40 hours in a dealership and 10 hours at a post-secondary in an ag mechanic bootcamp. All those hours are applied directly against a student’s four-year apprenticeship. The program, which began in 2017, had a goal to attract 20 students, said Schmeiser. “The first year we got over 100,” he said. “Now we’ve expanded. There’s a Grade 11 portion and a Grade 12 portion.” Due to the program’s success, specifically in Saskatchewan, Schmeiser said NAEDA is inching closer to having its curriculum in every single high school in that province. He concedes, though, that interest is predominant in rural school districts, which simply can’t fill the 1,000 vacancies open today. Schmeiser makes it abundantly clear those advising students of career paths must change the conversation. “I’ve been very disappointed in guidance counsellors and how they look at trades in general,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that—trades aren’t valued by guidance counsellors. If guidance counsellors want to move the smartest people into university programs, they’re not moving them into trades. Guidance counsellors want to view our industries as grease monkeys pulling wrenches. That is not the case anymore.” “The salaries have come up substantially, workplaces have improved substantially; these are really exciting times for an industry that is growing.” —John Schmeiser