Vacancies Remain In Food Processing Industry

Oct 16, 2020

The agriculture sector is hiring far fewer people than at this time last year.

The biggest problem is food processing, with estimates that almost 28,000 jobs in the sector remain vacant in Canada.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a food professor at Dalhousie University.

"With fewer people processing food, we may see inventories for a lot of products getting low," he said. "Going into the fall, this is quite problematic. Of course, you can import products, but if our own manufacturing plants are struggling to get people in, there will be less food to sold at retail. That's going to be a challenge."

Charlebois says Canada will not experience a food shortage any time soon, but the processing sector needs help, and fast.

He notes the average hourly wage in the area is currently about $21 to $23, well above the minimum wage across the country. Working conditions, however, are not ideal.

Charlebois adds that the new enhanced employment insurance program is also creating challenges for attracting workers.

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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.