Farms Turn to Technology to Meet Environment and Safety Standards
Higher environmental and food safety standards are creating a demand for a new category of farm workers. That has farmers across the country scrambling to recruit and train staff.
“The general public has no idea how much technology is involved in farming today – even my own family has trouble understanding why I own three laptops,” said Mark Richards, a grains and field vegetable producer from Dresden, Ontario and president of the Canadian Young Farmers’ Forum.
“Most people think farming is going out and driving a tractor or throwing some bales into the hay loft. Don’t get me wrong, I need people who can do that. But I also need people who understand technology and how to use it on a farm.”
Technology is allowing farmers to merge their need to become efficient with society’s increasingly stringent environmental and food safety regulations, said Richards, who employs two people full time and upwards of two dozen seasonal workers.
“Let me give you two examples: Small changes in fertilizer rates can greatly boost production or, if you over-apply, can waste thousands of dollars,” he said. “Because technology allows me to track things very closely, I can improve efficiency while preventing nutrient runoff.
“Similarly, technology has created trace-back systems where we can pretty much tell which tomatoes came out of what row. And, we not only know what we sprayed on those rows but what day and even what time of day and under what conditions.”
In other words, spraying or fertilizing a field used to be a job in itself. Now, it’s just part of a complex operation; one that involves constant checking to make sure equipment is functioning as it should and making adjustments as weather, field conditions and other factors change.
Training is critical to successfully using this technology. That’s one of the reasons why Richards is heavily involved with the newly launched Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council. It’s known as a “sector council” – one of 32 federally-funded, industry-driven organizations which work with employers, employees, educational institutions and governments to help address the human resource challenges facing Canada’s businesses.
“Enhancing the skills of Canada’s agriculture workforce through increased training is one of our top priorities,” said Danielle Vinette, executive director of the new Council (www.cahrc-ccrha.ca).
“There are great opportunities in agriculture – both in traditional farming and in emerging sectors. However, we do need to ensure that today’s agricultural producers, and young people considering a career in agriculture, have access to appropriate training to enable them to work in these increasingly high-tech areas.”
The Council will also be looking to farmers to share best practices to learn how they successfully train and encourage their staff to improve their productivity and performance.
“Many agriculture businesses in Canada are encouraging on-going skills training for their employees,” said Vinette. “Increasingly, agriculture employers also see value in keeping their own skills up-to-date to meet the changing demands of consumers. This is a win-win situation for employees and employers.”
It is also a win for society, said Richards.
“People will eat grapes from Chile without having a clue as to what was sprayed on them,” he said. “We’re held up to a much different standard, but we’re meeting that challenge.
“Technology has given us the tools to do what society expects while doing what we need to do to run efficient businesses. But attracting the kind of workers we need and giving them the training they need is critical – it’s the glue that holds it all together.”
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