Photo from the Alberta Pork Facebook page

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Some issues, but agriculture sector can still access temporary foreign workers

Apr 8, 2020 | 2:05 PM

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to issues getting temporary foreign workers for some sectors of the agriculture industry.

Charlotte Shipp with Alberta Pork says her group is thanking the government for recognizing the pork industry as an essential service and making sure that workers can keep moving.

“Obviously, there are some additional requirements around it to protect everybody’s safety, but we really do appreciate our government for putting measures in place to allow us to continue to access any of those temporary foreign workers.”

Those additional requirements would include getting workers here as only a few airports are allowed to have international flights come in, and making sure the workers can meet the 14-day quarantine period.

Alberta Pork could not say how many temporary foreign workers are on the province’s hog farms or how many have come in since the start of the pandemic.

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Shipp adds farmers are preparing in case there are interruptions.

“Our processors are also quite challenged because of the nature of the work, but they’re making a lot of great efforts to do shifts with staff, rotate, bring in additional facilities, and make sure that personal protective equipment is in place (and) being used, and employees are still able to respect the social distancing requirements.”

She says hog operations are willing to hire and train local people who have been laid off.

“And, specifically, in our rural areas. We want to keep folks that are living in our rural areas present and still working in the rural areas. So, absolutely, our producers are already starting to reach out to their own communities to say ‘You know what? We have jobs available.'”

Shipp says job seekers can seek out local farms and contact them directly or contact Alberta Pork.

Not an issue for all sectors

Ward Toma with Alberta Canola says temporary foreign workers is not as big an issue for crop producers but would be for a business like beekeeping.

“They’re fairly high-trained individuals. They have lots of training and skill and experience handling hives and queens. In the springtime, when the hives start waking up, coming out of winter, it’s a bit of a precarious situation for the hives and they need to be handled by someone that knows what they’re doing.”

Toma says these workers come from places like Mexico and South America.

He adds most operations in the crop sector are family farms.

“Most of the grains and oilseed farms are exactly in that situation. Actually, most of the livestock farms are in that situation, too. Maybe some of the larger feedlots or the larger hog operations might have (some), but, by and large, most of the farms and ranches in Canada are owned by families.”

He is also hoping local people can fill the gaps.

“As the season goes on and jobs are posted, and Albertans and Canadians hopefully will apply, people could be trained up, perhaps for some new careers. In the very short term upfront, I think it’s presenting a bit of a challenge for some of the beekeepers.”

EverythingGP has sent an interview request to the Alberta Beekeepers Commission and is still hoping to hear back.

Both the federal and provincial governments have deemed agriculture an essential service.