Striving to secure long-term agriculture labour strategy

By Jen Doelman

Director, OFA

Labour has been a longstanding critical issue impacting the agriculture and food value chain — including planting, production, quality control, processing, distribution, and research. It is not only difficult to attract, but also to retain employees in the various sectors of agriculture. The Feeding Your Future initiative was developed with the primary objective of addressing chronic labour shortages. Funding from both the Ontario government and Canadian government through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) created the opportunity to introduce more than just a labour initiative, but a long-term strategy to live beyond the immediate impacts of COVID-19.