38 / 52
The Food Issue
2017
Grains
West
38
“New research is opening up new
roles,” said Blade, pointing to the
“bioeconomy”—developing renewable
biological resources using agriculture
and forestry byproducts—as an example.
“No one could foresee the bioeconomy
10 to 15 years ago, but now we have
spinoff companies in our faculty looking
at new materials. Companies are being
formed and investments are being made
because of some of that work.”
JACKS OF ALL TRADES
Agriculture and food production has
changed dramatically in recent years,
and the pace of change is accelerating
as new technologies and production
systems emerge. The increasing use of
specialized software, different kinds of
remote imaging, and high-tech systems
to monitor crop and livestock production
is becoming more mainstream practice.
Lane Stockbrugger recently left his
job as a marketing specialist to farm full
time with his brother near Humboldt,
SK. He said the set of skills required to
make a farm business work is far more
complex than most people understand.
Planning crop rotations, making
decisions on new technology and
learning to operate it, filtering through
the available research to determine
what will work best for their farm, farm
safety, managing staff, administration,
communications and marketing the
crop are all essential parts of life for the
modern farmer. Beyond the farm gate,
they are managing relationships with
suppliers, mechanics, crop advisers,
researchers, bankers, lawyers, insurance
representatives and more.
“Even at the equipment dealership,
the level of expertise is increasing
exponentially. It used to be all heavy
mechanics, now they are software
engineers. The GPS systems we use were
built for spaceships and adapted to our
tractors,” said Stockbrugger. “People
who I don’t think ever thought about a
career in agriculture are being pulled
in because of the technology we are
working with.”
In addition to farming, Stockbrugger
works as a public speaker and advocate
for agriculture across the country, while
also promoting Canadian wheat to
international markets. In December 2016,
he logged more than 20,000 kilometres
of travel to present to Canadian grain
customers in Algeria, Morocco, England
and Italy.
“The agriculture industry has so many
things going on in it right now. You may
not be looking to get into agriculture, it
may find you,” he said. “It’s an amazing
industry to be a part of.”
BRIDGING THE GAP
According to the Canadian Agricultural
Human Resource Council (CAHRC),
the number of career opportunities in
agriculture is growing, and expected to
continue to grow over the next 10 years.
The CAHRC provides labour market
information to the agriculture sector
and develops tools to help agricultural
businesses better manage their human
resource needs.
“The future for the agriculture sector is
really bright,” said Debra Hauer, project
manager for CAHRC. “Generally, when
people think of the agriculture workforce,
they think the number of people working
in agriculture is decreasing. In reality,
if you combine Canadian and foreign
workers, our numbers show that number
is going up all the time. Our forecast for
the next 10 years is that agriculture needs
more people to take advantage of the
opportunities.”
Hauer said there are 2.3 million
Canadians employed in the agri-
food system from farm to plate. The
number of people employed full time
on-farm and in farm-support services
is 403,000, including people like
crop advisers, pruners, contractors,
livestock service personnel and farm
labourers. Research by the CAHRC and
the Conference Board of Canada found
there is currently a gap of approximately
50,000 farm-related agricultural jobs
that need to be filled across the country.
That gap is expected to increase to
114,000 in the next 10 years, in part due
to farmers retiring.
Temporary foreign workers help fill the
gap, but the CAHRC estimates that there
are still 26,000 vacancies to be filled in
Canadian agriculture.
“The majority of foreign workers
work in horticulture on a seasonal basis.
However, there are people brought in
to be veterinarians, farmmanagers and
supervisors in all types of agricultural
operations,” said Hauer. “There are
shortages across the board.”
Looking ahead, she highlighted the
need for people with technical skills to
design, build, operate and repair systems
like robotic milking machines, drones
and electronics in greenhouses that are
becoming more prevalent in the industry.
Consolidation in the agriculture industry
is also creating a need for people with a
different skill set.
“As agricultural businesses are getting
larger, having more employees becomes
the norm, and people need managerial
and supervisory skills, as well as human
resource expertise,” said Hauer. “The
occupations that will be needed in the