Orchardists facing labour shortages

Jul 11, 2022 | 5:00 AM

Like just about every other industry, Okanagan orchardists are having difficulty getting workers, and the shortage will become acute during harvest periods.

In the last two harvest seasons, some farmers could only watch as the crops rotted on the tree, because there was no one to pick it.

“Our temporary foreign workers program works well, but that program isn’t suitable for everyone,” B.C. Fruit Growers Association General Manager Glen Lucas said.

The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary jobs when qualified Canadians are not available.

The program is regulated through the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations and is administered in partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

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The program was halted the past two seasons due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and while it has returned to normal status this year, it still doesn’t help the smaller farm operations.

“The way it is set-up small growers can’t participate in that program easily, and so, if there is a shortage in domestic labour workers, it really shows up in those smaller farms and we are certainly seeing that this year,” Lucas said.

Lucas notes as little as a century ago in Canada, 50 per cent of the population was directly involved in agriculture, and that number is now around two per cent and falling.

“The TFW works well for those who use it and it helps the workers support their families and communities who typically come from fairly impoverished areas,” Lucas told Vernon Matters.

The program has been good for larger operations, but hasn’t been able to help the small family farms.

“We need to find a way to make that work, we are developing ideas on that, and hope to develop some pilot projects that will help those smaller growers out,” Lucas added.

The federal government did announce some loosening of rules on the TWF program in April of this year.

by Kevin Rothwell

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