ABBOTSFORD – Potential problems bringing in seasonal farm workers have been averted. Western Agricultural Labour Initiative (WALI) program manager Veronica Moreno warned growers at a BC Landscape & Nursery Association meeting in Abbotsford on December 17 that they could face delays receiving Mexican workers through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) at the beginning of …
labour
Seasonal workers start to arrive
BC landscape and nursery owners are ready to welcome seasonal farm workers after concerns that biometric requirements would delay arrivals this winter. Nurseries are typically the first farm operations in the province to receive workers under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), but some feared that a requirement for workers to provide biometric information would …
Agriculture ministers discuss concerns
A meeting of federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers in Ottawa this week addressed several issues of concern to BC producers. BC agriculture minister Lana Popham told Country Life in BC before she left that she would be discussing assistance for farmers in the Peace hit hard by adverse conditions this fall. The assistance would …
Overwhelming support for piece rates
A study of BC piece rates the BC Ministry of Labour commissioned in September 2018 has shown broad support for the existing system. Published this week, the study found 90% of growers support the existing system whereby government sets rates for workers who pick fruit and vegetables. Workers in the Thompson-Okanagan region expressed 94% satisfaction …
New skills needed for technology-driven agriculture
ABBOTSFORD – Canadian agriculture has the potential to generate $11 billion in revenue, Royal Bank of Canada senior vice-president John Stackhouse told a select group of industry leaders at an RBC Farmer 4.0 luncheon in Abbotsford, October 10. “The world will have to produce more food than ever before to feed people in the next …
Worker shortages cost $216 million
Worker shortages cost BC producers $216 million in 2018, according to the detailed findings of a Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council study of the farm labour market in BC. Preliminary findings from the report were released earlier this year, but details of the labour market in each province were just released this month. The findings …