Human Resources committee  Right now, we know there is $1.5 billion in lost sales on the agriculture side alone.

Human Resources committee  Yes, $1.5 billion

Human Resources committee  That's annually in lost revenues, for the agriculture side of the agriculture and agri-food industry. That is an incredible contraction of the industry. The industry is at critical risk at this point in time.

Human Resources committee  I'm glad you asked that question, because the industry has come together to sort that answer out. They've done the research, and it's called the Canadian agriculture and agri-food workforce action plan. It lists two overarching recommendations: this industry needs to fix the supp

Human Resources committee  I just want to close by saying that we have prepared some binders for you. Everybody is leaving you with good information and good research. That workforce action plan is in front of you. You have our clear recommendations, including the recommendation that Mark Wales spoke about

Human Resources committee  Improving pathways to permanency is really critical for the issues that were described. We want to ensure that those workers who come in through a temporary foreign worker program of some sort have an opportunity to continue to be skilled workers in the industry and grow with the

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here with you today to help you as you consider the new policy framework for agriculture. We all enjoy the benefits of abundant, healthy, safe, and affordable food in Canada due to a world-class food system, one that feeds our 37 millio

Agriculture committee  That's a difficult question to answer. The shortages are across the board. They're being felt in every commodity, especially those that are labour intensive, so that's the horticulture industry for sure. They're being felt as significant factors in the low-skilled arena, but also

Agriculture committee  That's okay. Certainly, the whole-of-government approach is needed to address this challenge, with leadership, though, from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. That's the ministry that needs to care most about this problem. That's why we want to see this as a priority, stated in

Agriculture committee  Absolutely.

Agriculture committee  I'll speak to labour market information. It's something that CAHRC has invested a lot of time and energy in doing. We work with all of our commodities associations across Canada trying to gather good details about what's going on in the labour market. We do that with funding from

Agriculture committee  Yes, you mentioned succession issues and certainly there are pockets of really great practices. There are examples of family farms that have no one from the family who is interested in taking over the farm, working with somebody else outside the family and figuring out a plan, so

Agriculture committee  Yes, you're right, we have to get people interested early in the options. We work with Agriculture in the Classroom nationally and in the different provinces to encourage their programs. One of the things the council does, aside from labour market intelligence, is analyze the jo

Agriculture committee  We are certainly concerned about ensuring that all under-represented groups in the Canadian labour market find their way to agriculture—we are talking about youth, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, and women—to ensure and encourage broad access. I like your idea abo

Agriculture committee  Retention is definitely an issue in the industry. There are some commodities that are doing really well. The aquaculture industry is able to retain its workers. We are not sure why, but the data bears that out. Perhaps they are doing a really good job selecting the right candid