Minister Bibeau highlights actions to attract workers to Canada’s agri-food sector

Leamington, Ontario – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Canada is committed to attracting the best talent from around the world to fill labour and skills shortages, drive local economies, and create and support middle-class jobs in communities across the country that will benefit all Canadians.

 

The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, met with stakeholders at the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) to highlight a new three-year economic immigration pilot that aims to attract and retain experienced, non-seasonal workers by providing them with an opportunity to become permanent residents.

 

The immigration pilot, announced on July 12 by the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, will test a new, industry-specific approach to help address the labour needs of the agri-food sector, particularly in meat processing, mushroom production and greenhouse crop production. Addressing these labour market needs will help key industries in Canada’s specialized agri-food sector grow, and help meet Canada’s ambitious export targets.

 

Over the past several years, a number of these industries have experienced ongoing difficulty in finding and keeping new employees for year-round positions. As part of the Minister’s visit to the Leamington area, she also toured Vine Fresh Acres Ltd, an innovative high-wire cucumber producer, and Highline Mushrooms, the largest mushroom grower in Canada.

 

Employers in the agri-food sector who intend to be part of the pilot, or other existing pathways to permanent residence for foreign workers in the same occupations and industries, will be eligible for a two-year Labour Market Impact Assessment.

 

Temporary foreign workers will be able to apply under this pilot in early 2020. A maximum of 2,750 principal applicants, plus family members, will be accepted for processing in any given year. This represents a total of approximately 16,500 possible new permanent residents over the three-year duration of the pilot.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.