Farm compensation benchmarks set

Results of a new Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council wage study highlight opportunities to improve on-farm compensation practices.

The study, released May 22, drew on 609 employees across 140 organizations. It indicates that the highest-paying commodity group across all job categories was grain & oilseed while dairy and apiculture ranked among the lowest.

“The weighted average for the farm manager role ranged from $29.56 to $37.95 and the median ranged from $30 to $39.90. Grain & oilseed paid the highest weighted average and median for farm managers,” the report stated. “Dairy paid the lowest farm manager wage across all industries by an estimated $4 an hour.”

With respect to farm workers, the median pay rates ranged from $18 to $28 an hour with apiculture paying the least and grain & oilseed paying the most. Dairy paid a median wage of $20 an hour.

General farm labourers, the lowest paid category overall, again received the highest median pay in the grain & oilseed sector ($21.67 an hour) while apiculture paid the least ($16.50 an hour).

The low wages in dairy and apiculture weren’t necessarily offset by non-monetary compensation like health and dental plans. While more than half of organizations surveyed indicate they offer these, dairy and apiculture were the least likely. In fact, more than 70% of dairy businesses offered these benefits.

The most common benefit was training and development, at 87% of employers.

Results weren’t broken out by province, but starting wages in BC have tended to be above $18 an hour, according to Statistics Canada data collected through last fall.

However, there are some notable differences in BC.

BC indexes its minimum wage to inflation, and the next increase on June 1 will see the rate rise 4% to $17.40 an hour. Most employers pay well above this in order to secure workers.

Provincial legislation also mandates sick days for all full and part-time employees.

This spring, the BC Agriculture Council launched a benefits program to make it easier for sector employers to support, attract and retain workers.

CAHRC said its own study, based on data from 2023, can help to close the labour gap facing farmers by giving them a better understanding of compensation practices and tweaking their own to cultivate a co-dependent relationship with staff.

“Providing essential compensation data resources to all industry producers is a critical step to attracting top talent, retaining current experienced talent and bettering careers in the agriculture industry,” the study concluded. “Rethinking the standard approaches of how employees are compensated and supported through benefits can serve to improve the current agriculture labour market shortages.”

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7 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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4 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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5 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.