Message from the Chair of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council

January 15, 2008 marks the first anniversary of the incorporation of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council.

It seems fitting that as we celebrate this milestone, CAHRC is issuing its first newsletter. I think that I speak for everyone who has participated in the work of the Council that our first year has been a year of progress, of success, and of learning.

CAHRC’s first Executive Director, Danielle Vinette, has put a fine team in place to guide our projects, pay our bills, raise awareness, and manage all of our administrative needs. We have a presence on the Web and our site is continually expanding. We produced a corporate brochure early in 2007 and distributed it along with an information kit to our members, Parliamentarians, ministries at the federal, provincial and territorial levels, and to many other stakeholders. We recently produced a complementary pamphlet that provides an overview of our objectives and mission at the Council – and we continue to look for awareness-raising opportunities to get these products and our messages out.

We evolved from an interim Board of Directors to a final Board – and held our first annual general meeting. We finalized the terms of reference and composition of our Board Committees, and voted in our executive officers. Steering Committees have been established for each of our current projects and we’re seeing new faces guide this important work.

We have three projects underway that deal with our more pressing workforce challenges: attracting more workers to agriculture and providing them with access to the training courses they need to stay competitive. There are more project proposals in development for consideration by Human Resources and Social Development Canada. In our next newsletter, the Council will report back on these proposals and provide further updates on our progress with existing activities.

In short, over our first year, we hit the ground running – and you all played a key role in our success. We’re looking forward to year two, and to regular newsletters to keep you and your members informed about CAHRC’s progress and accomplishments.

Happy Birthday, CAHRC!

Terry Murray
Wild Rose Agricultural Producers

Project Progress

Labour Market Information Research on Recruitment and Retention
Project Dates: May 2007 – May 2009

We’re collecting up-to-date labour market information to get a complete picture of the complexity and scope of labour needs across Canada – by region and by commodity.

The information will serve as a quick reference guide to determine where workers are needed the most so we can identify alternative sources of labour and strategies to gain access to these labour sources.

The information will also be used to pinpoint best practices used by agriculture to recruit and retain workers in their operations.

What We’ve Achieved to Date
The Steering Committee for this project was formed in May 2007. Led by Chair Paul Leblanc, General Manager of the Apple Growers of New Brunswick, and Vice-Chair Christine Koch, Policy and Member Relations Manager of the British Columbia Agriculture Council, the Committee includes industry representatives David Rolfe (Keystone Agricultural Producers of Manitoba), Doug Connery (Canadian Horticultural Council), Myles Frosst (Agricultural Institute of Canada) and Hélène Varvaressos (Agricarrières in Quebec).

The Steering Committee held its first meeting in June to approve its terms of reference, and to outline the research process for securing the desired labour market information. As of the end of December, the following activities were underway:

Agreement on a common commodity listing.
Consultations with national farm and commodity organizations, and provincial government agencies.
Research to determine prevalent factors hindering recruitment and retention of agricultural workers.
Literature review to gather preliminary information and statistical data on the agriculture labour market.
Development of an employer survey to learn more about hiring plans, vacancies (if any) and ability to fill them, future labour requirements by occupation type, and recruitment methods, challenges and barriers.

These activities will continue throughout January, February and March 2008. Interviews with up to 50 stakeholders will take place in February to gather direct information (beyond the literature review) about their experiences relating to challenges, opportunities, and barriers to recruiting and retaining employees. An employer survey will take place in the coming months.

NEXT STEPS:
As a result of the literature review, stakeholder interviews and employer survey, an agricultural labour supply and demand model will be developed. Information will be matched against demographic data, region, size of operation and commodity type.

Inventory Database for Gap Analysis of Learning Programs
Project Dates: May 2007 – November 2008

We’re gathering information on all available agriculture training and learning programs across Canada, and the supply and demand for these programs.

The information will be organized into a database that shows where learning programs are available and easily accessible and, more importantly, where they are not, so we can address the training needs of specific regions of Canada. This is the first step towards creating a more skilled agriculture workforce in Canada.

The database will be used by CAHRC in the future to facilitate and improve training programs for agricultural workers, employers, and youth entering the workforce.

What We’ve Achieved to Date
The Steering Committee for this project was formed in May 2007. Connie Kehler, Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Herb and Spice Association and the National Herb and Spice Coalition is the Chair of the Committee, and Jack Moes, Dean of Applied Research and Institutional Planning at Assiniboine Community College in Manitoba is the Vice-Chair. Members of the Committee include: Victor Santacruz (Canadian Nursery Landscape Association), Andrea Bourne (Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture), Laurie Dmytryshyn (Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan) and Myles Frosst (Agricultural Institute of Canada).

Provincial and national farm organizations and associations are presently being contacted to recommend producers who would be willing to participate in the employer survey. The same is being done with training organizations and businesses so that they may participate in the training provider survey.

NEXT STEPS:
The results of these surveys will be analyzed to identify gaps and a preliminary report is expected at the end of March.

Framework for Curriculum Development in the Agriculture Sector – Pilot Project: Curriculum Development for the Ornamental Sector and Course Material
Project Dates: September 2007 – October 2009

We’re working to increase and standardize the professional status of workers in the ornamental sector by reviewing and validating the essential skills profile and national occupational standard for the Landscape Horticulturist.

This project will result in a national common core curriculum and course material designed specifically for the landscape horticulture sector in Canada.

Over the longer term, CAHRC will use the results of this project to develop a process or transferable template to facilitate the development of National Occupational Standards and curriculum modules for other occupations in agriculture.

What We’ve Achieved to Date
The Steering Committee for this project was formed in September 2007. It is chaired by Victor Santacruz, Executive Director of the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA) and vice-chaired by Bill Hardy, a Certified Landscape Professional, owner of Northwest Landscape & Stone Supply, and Chair of HortEducationBC. Industry representatives on the Committee include: Phil Paxton (Alpha Better Group in Alberta and Chair of the CNLA certification committee); Joel Beatson (CNLA Professional and Business Development Manager); Terry Murphy (Human Resources Manager at Landscape Ontario); and Darrell Nameth (Lawn Rangers Landscaping in New Brunswick). Chantal Locatelli (Senior Policy Advisor, Ontario Ministry of Education) and Doug Muir (Canadian Apprenticeship Forum) are also members of the Committee.

Following the first meeting of the Steering Committee, an occupational analysis workshop with practitioners and educators was held to analyze the Landscape Horticulturist occupation. The draft national occupational standard and essential skills profile developed at this workshop will be reviewed and validated by a larger group of practitioners in Saint John, NB in early February.

NEXT STEPS:
In mid-February, the Committee will seek further practitioner validation of the occupational standard and essential skills profile through industry surveys. Once the standard and essential skills profile are completed, work will begin on curriculum development in early April.

Recent Activities for the Council

Annual General Meeting
The Council’s first annual general meeting occurred on September 19, 2007. This was an important meeting for CAHRC; it was there that the Executive Committee was formally elected. Terry Murray (Wild Rose Agricultural Producers of Alberta) was elected as the Council’s Chair; Merv Wiseman (Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture) as Vice-Chair; and Mark Wales (Ontario Federation of Agriculture) and David Rolfe (Keystone Agricultural Producers of Manitoba) as members of the Executive Committee.

Membership in The Alliance of Sector Councils
CAHRC is now officially a member of The Alliance of Sector Councils – TASC – which acts as a co‑ordinating body for the 32 federally funded sector councils. The main function of TASC is to share information among sector councils, and to communicate and promote the value of the sector council approach to human resource development.

TASC regularly organizes workshops and seminars of particular relevance to sector councils. For instance, CAHRC participated in a TASC workshop on ‘How to Write a Good Proposal’. We learned valuable tips from this workshop on how the Council can better prepare its proposals to ensure HRSDC funding and, more importantly, to better deal with the HR issues most pressing for agriculture.

CAHRC Executive Director on ECO Canada LMI Committee
In September 2007, CAHRC’s Executive Director, Danielle Vinette, was invited to sit on the National Steering Committee for 2007-2010 Environmental Labour Market Information Project. This project is being led by the sector council called “ECO Canada: the Environmental Careers Organization,” which has been around since 1992.

As Canada’s newest sector council, CAHRC stands to gain a lot from its participation on this steering committee. Bringing together corporate executives and management, deans and directors of post-secondary environmental programs, senior government officials, and senior executives of key stakeholder groups, this committee will be sharing knowledge and experience of human resource development within the environment sector and across multidisciplinary labour market characteristics.

It is expected that this experience will shed insight into CAHRC’s own LMI project. In particular, we hope to learn more about foreign credential recognition initiatives, national occupational codes and standards, as well as communications and outreach successes.

Working Together to Meet Primary Agriculture Workforce Challenges
CAHRC and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges signed a memorandum of understanding to work together in developing solutions to the training issues facing agriculture colleges across Canada. This formal agreement opens up doors for CAHRC and ACCC to join forces to reach common activities – particularly activities that will increase agriculture’s participation in education and training.

One of the key goals at ACCC is to increase the relevance and responsiveness of Canada’s network of colleges and institutes to emerging sectoral needs and requirements. In fact, the ACCC’s Canadian Agricultural Education Network was set up specifically to achieve this goal.

Canada’s 2011 Agriculture Census
The next Census of Agriculture across Canada is set for 2011. This may seem a long way off, but in order to keep the census relevant, workshops were hosted for users of census data in September and October 2007 to find out whether changes to the forms should be made.

CAHRC participated in one of these workshops, and provided a submission to include workforce retention questions relating to wages and salaries, and total number of weeks or hours of paid work, which was one area in the census that Statistics Canada had slated for deletion.

The Council also recommended changes and additions to the 2011 Census of Agriculture questions about on-farm computer use for training/learning and recruiting, as well as the potential use of computers for on-line learning opportunities.