AGRICULTURE IS FULL OF CAREER PATHS FOR PEOPLE FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE

BY TAMARA LEIGH

Ask someone to name a career in agriculture, and the odds are good that the first word out of their mouth will be “farmer.” While it’s true that farming forms the foundation of the industry, those men and women are supported by a diverse and passionate network of professionals: research scientists, accountants, veterinarians, heavy mechanics, software programmers and marketing specialists, to name a few.

While only two per cent of Canadians live on a farm, one in eight jobs in Canada is related to the agriculture and agri-food industry. For Canadians looking for rewarding careers, agriculture is a growing source of career opportunities that few would associate with thetraditional image of farm life.

“I love to take a food product like potato chips and ask a group of students to describe how the bag of chips got to them,” said Becky Parker, an agriculture educator and Nuffield Canada scholar. “Most people can put together growing the potatoes, processing them into chips, and even talk about transportation. But who created the flavours? Who created the design for the bag? Those types of conversations start to open eyes to the jobs and careers that are involved in bringing food to consumers.”

Parker recently completed a study of ways to engage Generation Z, the generation born after the mid-’90s that will be entering the workforce over the next 20 years, in agri-food careers. According to Parker, Generation Z is characterized as entrepreneurial, independent and driven by the desire to have an impact with their work.

When it comes to impact, agriculture has a lot to offer. Domestically, food and beverage processing is Canada’s largest manufacturing industry, and Canada is the fifth-largest exporter of agriculture and agri-food products in the world. Globally, agriculture has the single largest footprint of any human activity, which speaks to the universal truth that everyone needs to eat. Agriculture is an economic, social, environmental, political and science-based industry, and offers career opportunities that are equally diverse.

The challenge is closing the gap between the widely held perceptions of agricultural jobs and the reality of the opportunities available. Parker said the key to getting Generation Z to think about agricultural careers when they are ready to enter the workforce is to first increase their awareness of agriculture and their exposure to the opportunities available.

“We can’t just talk about careers in agriculture with young people, we need to give them a chance to experience them through co-op placements, summer jobs or job shadowing. We need to give them an opportunity to try things out,” said Parker, who is working to create more of these opportunities in the industry. “The other key part of the system is really around mentorship, and having someone to provide a pathway into a career in agriculture.”

AGRICULTURE INNOVATION

The Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES) at the University of Alberta has experienced a trend that demonstrates just how compelling agriculture can be once people make the connection.

“Our faculty gets more transfer students from other faculties than any other,” said Stan Blade, dean of the Faculty of ALES. “Students from arts or science take one of their electives from our faculty and, all of a sudden, worlds open up to them that they never conceived of.”

According to Blade, the interest from schools and students from urban areas is increasing as people begin to better understand how the opportunities in agriculture align with their values. In recent years, there has been a shift in where ALES students come from. Whereas the faculty has traditionally drawn about 75 per cent of its students from rural areas, today enrolment reflects a 50-50 split between urban and rural students. Fifty-five to 60 per cent of students enrolled in undergraduate programs are women.

“Students from places like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, they want to have an impact on food security,” Blade said. “They want to have an impact on the environmental sustainability of agriculture and food production more broadly.”

With a focus on experiential learning at the undergraduate level, the faculty offers international trips to places like Mexico, Cuba, India and Japan, as well as internships and opportunities to connect with top-level farmers within the region.

“We see our students go on to graduate school and equip themselves for roles as researchers and scientists,” said Blade. “We have alumni who set up their own consulting firms and agricultural businesses. Lots of our students work with companies where they work on the front line with farmers. Others go on to work with producer organizations in key positions that can become extremely influential.”

As a research faculty, the work being done at the graduate level is shaping the future of agricultural production, changing practices and creating new career opportunities in agriculture by developing demand for new skill sets.

“New research is opening up new roles,” said Blade, pointing to the “bioeconomy”—developing renewable biological resources using agriculture and forestry byproducts—as an example. “No one could foresee the bioeconomy 10 to 15 years ago, but now we have spinoff companies in our faculty looking at new materials. Companies are being formed and investments are being made because of some of that work.”

JACKS OF ALL TRADES

Agriculture and food production has changed dramatically in recent years, and the pace of change is accelerating as new technologies and production systems emerge. The increasing use of specialized software, different kinds of remote imaging, and high-tech systems to monitor crop and livestock production is becoming more mainstream practice.

Lane Stockbrugger recently left his job as a marketing specialist to farm full time with his brother near Humboldt, SK. He said the set of skills required to make a farm business work is far more complex than most people understand.

Planning crop rotations, making decisions on new technology and learning to operate it, filtering through the available research to determine what will work best for their farm, farm safety, managing staff, administration, communications and marketing the crop are all essential parts of life for the modern farmer. Beyond the farm gate, they are managing relationships with suppliers, mechanics, crop advisers, researchers, bankers, lawyers, insurance representatives and more.

“Even at the equipment dealership, the level of expertise is increasing exponentially. It used to be all heavy mechanics, now they are software engineers. The GPS systems we use were built for spaceships and adapted to our tractors,” said Stockbrugger. “People who I don’t think ever thought about a career in agriculture are being pulled in because of the technology we are working with.”

In addition to farming, Stockbrugger works as a public speaker and advocate for agriculture across the country, while also promoting Canadian wheat to international markets. In December 2016, he logged more than 20,000 kilometres of travel to present to Canadian grain customers in Algeria, Morocco, England and Italy.

“The agriculture industry has so many things going on in it right now. You may not be looking to get into agriculture, it may find you,” he said. “It’s an amazing industry to be a part of.”

BRIDGING THE GAP

According to the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), the number of career opportunities in agriculture is growing, and expected to continue to grow over the next 10 years. The CAHRC provides labour market information to the agriculture sector and develops tools to help agricultural businesses better manage their human resource needs.

“The future for the agriculture sector is really bright,” said Debra Hauer, project manager for CAHRC. “Generally, when people think of the agriculture workforce, they think the number of people working in agriculture is decreasing. In reality, if you combine Canadian and foreign workers, our numbers show that number is going up all the time. Our forecast for the next 10 years is that agriculture needs more people to take advantage of the opportunities.”

Hauer said there are 2.3 million Canadians employed in the agrifood system from farm to plate. The number of people employed full time on-farm and in farm-support services is 403,000, including people like crop advisers, pruners, contractors, livestock service personnel and farm labourers. Research by the CAHRC and the Conference Board of Canada found there is currently a gap of approximately 50,000 farm-related agricultural jobs that need to be filled across the country. That gap is expected to increase to 114,000 in the next 10 years, in part due to farmers retiring.

Temporary foreign workers help fill the gap, but the CAHRC estimates that there are still 26,000 vacancies to be filled in Canadian agriculture.

“The majority of foreign workers work in horticulture on a seasonal basis. However, there are people brought in to be veterinarians, farm managers and supervisors in all types of agricultural operations,” said Hauer. “There are shortages across the board.”

Looking ahead, she highlighted the need for people with technical skills to design, build, operate and repair systems like robotic milking machines, drones and electronics in greenhouses that are becoming more prevalent in the industry. Consolidation in the agriculture industry is also creating a need for people with a different skill set.

“As agricultural businesses are getting larger, having more employees becomes the norm, and people need managerial and supervisory skills, as well as human resource expertise,” said Hauer. “The occupations that will be needed in the greatest numbers are managers and owner/operators because existing owners will be retiring over the next 10 years.”

OLD INDUSTRY, NEW BLOOD

At 24 years of age, Rosie Templeton is part of the younger generation that is beginning to address the labour gap, both on-farm and off. Raised in a ranching family, she found a way to combine her passions for ranching and writing and marketing by becoming a public relations strategist with AdFarm, an advertising agency that specializes in agriculture.

“I live in the city, but I still feel like I’m working with and for farmers every day,” she said. From her vantage point in an ad agency, Templeton interacts with clients from all different facets of the agriculture industry, including farmer organizations, fertilizer and seed companies, farm equipment dealers, animal health projects and even rural Internet providers.

“On any given day, I might work with five different clients who all came from a different path into agriculture,” said Templeton. “You get an inside look at a hundred different types of careers, companies and individuals within the industry that you may end up working with in the future. It is a fascinating example of how diverse the industry is.” It’s a five-and-a-half-hour commute back to the ranch from her home in the city, but Templeton still plays an active role in the family business.

“There are three girls in the family—my oldest sister is a veterinarian, I do the communications work and the other one is the active, full-time rancher,” she said. “We all have something to contribute.”

Looking ahead, Templeton echoed the sentiments heard time and again from the people who make their living in different ways in the agriculture industry. “There is an endless amount of opportunity in agriculture. It’s constantly changing, constantly adapting,” she said. “Other industries come and go, but agriculture is here to stay.”

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New Crop Missions: From a Saskatchewan Farm to International Customers
Lane Stockbrugger, LDS Farms

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Thirty-six hours after promoting western Canadian wheat to some of the most important export markets in Europe and North Africa, I was back home where you might expect to find me, in the bleachers at a rink with the temperature hovering around -25° Celsius outside.

I spent the first half of December on the road, on a whirlwind tour of four key markets for Canadian wheat and durum exports: Algeria, Morocco, England, and Italy. In total, we logged over 20,000 kilometres between these four markets in 15 days. It’s a long way from the 4,000-acre grain and oilseed farm I run with my brother Lance, in East-Central Saskatchewan. You see, Canada exports 20 million tonnes of cereal crops each year. And it’s our job to maintain and protect these markets, through presentations, conversations, and dialogue, which is exactly what I did on the 2016 Canadian Wheat New Crop Missions.

Our two-week mission was organized and coordinated through three organizations: Cereals Canada, Canadian International Grains Institute (Cigi) and the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC). There were four new crop missions in total, spanning 17 countries in the fall of 2016 that traveled through Asia, Latin America, Europe, North Africa and West Africa. The approach, providing customers with updates from experts along the Canadian value chain, including a farmer, a representative of grain exporters, and technical specialists from the CGC and Cigi.

As a farmer, I was honoured to represent western Canadian producers, and our role is ever important on these missions, to tell our story. It was the opportunity to speak about our independent approach to running our businesses and how we make decisions on our farms that are in the interest of the family business, for today and looking toward the future. I spoke of our focus on technological advancements to help farmers in Canada be as productive as possible while ensuring that we are growing crops in a sustainable manner that will protect our land, air, and water for the next generation.

The value of having a team of Canadians representing the value chain became more obvious as our mission through North Africa and Europe continued. Customers had heard that Canada had a tough growing season, plagued with too much moisture and a long drawn out harvest. This led to very real questions and concerns about the quality that Canada would have to offer for export to Canadian wheat and durum dependent markets. It was our chance to correct any misinformation they had, and to share the whole story about the quality that would be available for their import needs. Questions about glyphosate and how we use it on the farm were valuable to hear and even more importantly to have the ability to respond firsthand and explain how we use herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides to produce the quality product customers have come to expect from Canada. These discussions during the missions help build new business relationships and strengthen existing ones, which frankly is ever important to this Canadian farmer if we intend to maintain and grow our position in these markets.

After spending these valuable two weeks in conversation with the decision makers of these important end-use markets, I have a better appreciation of our role and the importance of that role. Conversing with companies like Barilla Pasta, SIM Pasta/Cous Cous, and Warburtons and seeing their businesses in action using Canadian wheat to produce products for local markets and international distribution is humbling. What we do as farmers makes a difference, but we can’t rest on our laurels in this competitive landscape.

I’ve spent the past 3 days on Prince Edward Island traveling around touring farms with some great new farming friends. Folks who dropped everything to take Greg Peterson (Peterson Farm Bros Youtube Sensations) and myself. Ok wait, maybe it was a tour for Greg and I got to tag along. Regardless, I’ve met great people and forged new friendships I didn’t have a week ago.

Our tour started with a feedlot and grain farm tour where I learned its not just the farmers who enjoy their potatoes. Nope. Cattle get to indulge on the seconds or off grade potatoes. They told me nutritional value for the cattle are on/near par with barley.

This farm is run by a spry 72 year old and his wife who show no signs of slowing down. Our tour guide Ian works for them and is still the ‘new guy’ with 10 years under his belt. Clearly this guy is doing something right, and you could see it in his smile as he pulled up in his Dodge 4×4 during our tour.

From there we headed to Visser and Sons Table and Seed Potato packing facility. Where Mr. Visser himself took the time to tour the facility with us, explaining the world of potato grading, customer specs and the mirage of unique packages that goes along with this business.

A quick stop at a chap I’ve met before at a Canadian Young Farmer Forum conference, Patrick Dunphy’s grain/corn/soybean farm preceded fresh biscuits and Shepard’s pie at Mark and Amanda Verleun, but more about that later. Patrick explained his farm’s growth and future plans. And the guy looks amazing, having lost 50lbs giving up sugar in his diet!

Mark and Amanda Verleun of Dalmeny Farms work alongside his parents in the raising of soybeans, oats, hay, barley and winter wheat predominantly for their black Angus cow/calf herd, Holstein steers and chickens. Peter, Marks dad started the farm in 1979 and Mark’s grandfather immigrated to Canada in the 1950s and their family has been farming ever since. After a tour of the farm, we were invited into their home where Amanda had prepared the BEST Shepard’s pie ever, accompanied by warm biscuits and local PEI IPA brew enjoyed sitting around the pot belly stove in their living room warming our ‘not used to the damp PEI cold’ bones.

Our last stop of the tour was something quite different. A farm that decides their production for the year based on the day of the week Valentine’s Day lands on and which Sunday in May is Mother’s day. This was Vanco’s Tulip Farm that grows approximately 5 million tulips each year for distribution throughout Eastern Canada and the United States. During our visit they were working on the greenhouse boiler, that’s fueled by straw. Cool stuff!

In each of these businesses, they opened their doors to us, stopped their busy day to tend to us, never took a cell phone call or text during the tour and were genuinely interested to share their business with us, while also seeking to learn about Greg’s Kansas beef and crop farm and my grains and oilseed Saskatchewan farm. And as I reflect on the tour, I hope we’re as courteous and genuinely open and interested in visitors to our farm as these PEI farmers were to us.

I’m writing this as I realize I’ll need an extension to my already late checkout granted yesterday given the renowned Nor’Easter I’ve been fortunate enough to experience on this trip. “No problem,” says the customer experience agent in his East coast accent. “How long would you like to stay?” Longer is the thought in my head with the warm PEI welcome I’ve received, but instead mutter “2 hours would be great.”

Thanks to Carey, Jeff, Ian, Amy, Pat, Liz, Mark and Amanda and the other young farmers for the memories!

Making final preparations for my presentation at the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) Summit in Winnipeg this evening and it once again donned on me how much I love this industry and what it represents. Agriculture is the place I, like so many of those around me, call home. And the deeper I get into it, the more I realize I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In some ways the jobs we do every day on the farm are very different from when we started 23 years ago, yet they are grounded on the very same premise, which is growing crops, producing products for the world and doing something we can and are proud of.

The advice we seek on the farm has changed too. Our technical adviser is jazzed by the new ideas and videos we send him, seeking his advice. For a ‘city kid’ with distant rural/ag roots, he expresses his interest in our vision every time he finds and shares an article or a technical tool that could help the farm. Its that shared commitment that drives the business every day.

And speaking of shared commitment, big brother Lance will arrive later this evening. Unfortunately too late for this evenings event but we’ll get to have a business meeting together on the road over the next 3 days. Looking forward to it. Here goes….

Heading in to day 2 of the Sask Young Ag Entrepreneurs after a John Gormley led panel wrapped up day 1 well into the evening.

Day 1 covered technology overview with highlights from Agritechnica with Shaun Haney, Alana Koch on leadership with my favourite quote referencing family and the importance of making regular deposits into your childrens memory banks. Advice many of us young child parents should take seriously.

I missed most of Kim Gerencser’s presentation on cyclical trends in ag unfortunately.

Sadly feral pigs are becoming a massive issue across Canada and the U.S. Funding is primary coming from the U.S. government to help deal with the issue that most around the room seemed surprised at the extent of the concern and the aggresssiveness and dangerous nature of the little meanies.

Ok, i better get in there for Megan Madden who is up first today.

As 2015 comes to a close and 2016 begins I reflect on what the year was and like all farmers hope for a great year ahead. 2015 was an interesting weather wise and production wise.  We started out the year with a fair bit of snow. Our annual family snowmobiling trip to “Smoke’m Lodge” mid March was snowmobiling the first day and quadding the second. Warm temperatures melted the snow away rapidly, deteriating the trails overnight.   It appeared we were in for an early spring.

April brought wet snow and lots of it which made sure we were not going to be short of moisture, which was never really a concern given all the subsoil moisture we have. With all the snow and late in the season our first capital purchase was made in early April , a new Schulte snowblower.  They had extra stock and were clearing them out at a discount so we eagerly purchases one.  I figured this machine would be something the boys would use when they took over the farm. And if this weather keeps up this year that will be for sure as we have yet to use it…

Seeding started on May 4th surprising given the late snowfalls we had.  We managed to get our peas in before we got some rain that shut us down for a week.  Seeding resumed on the 12th and went fairly smoothly allowing us to wrap up in the last week of May which hasn’t been the case for several years. Spraying was incredible this year. I can’t remember the last time I sprayed every acre and didn’t make a spray rut. The wind cooperated and I was done spraying in a very timely manner.  So timely that I was able to go to an Inland Terminal Association board meeting in Vancouver.  Part of the meeting was touring the docks and  vessel loading facilities which was an excellent learning experience.  And a pretty great supper cruising on a yacht on the harbour.

On the way home I stopped in Edmonton, rented a one way rental to Saskatoon and bought the family a boat.  It was great times on the water this summer with the boys trying and achieving wake boarding and of course lots of tubing.

Harvest started earlier than most years with dry peas coming off on Aug 13th.  Landon and I started and got off 80 acres before our first rain of the fall.  This gave Landon and I the chance to go get our second capital purchase of the year, a new set of Load King super B grain trailers.  We picked them up at the factory in Morden MB, so we spent 1 night in the truck which Landon loved the experience. We got back and harvest resumed on the peas but it was start and stopping with little rain showers shutting us down every second day. This seemed to be the theme for this year’s harvest with never really getting more than a couple days in a row. During our harvest we made the 3rd and final capital purchase. A new 10×73 auger to unload the semis. Our old one was due to be replaced but with the prices at auction this summer a new one was the best deal.

Our harvest was great productionwise with the most harvested bushels we have ever had.  We hauled all our peas directly to market and a fair chunk of our canola putting our new trailers to good use.  With all the little rains meant I was washing my new trailers almost daily…

Harvest wrapped up on Oct 10th, Saturday of Thanksgiving.  We spent Sunday at mom’s as we certainly had lots to be thankful for.  We worked some stubble because with all the late rains our ground was getting saturated again so we wanted to try and dry it out for next year and now clean up some ruts from the combines and swather, seems we just couldn’t go a year without any.  I had surgery on Nov 13 so it was a rush to get everything done I wanted to before then as I would be out of commission for 6 weeks, well that’s what the doctor told me, but my family knew that would not likely be the case.

December 17th I started booking grain to be hauled. I booked 8 loads (330mt) of wheat to Saskatoon and then get the call that 340mt of barley can be hauled in to local elevators as well.  In 6 days of hauling I logged 3413 km’s (total for the year was 9,963) so it meant for some long days.  To round out the busy week I booked a load of canola as well.  Last load was to Saskatoon on Dec 23rd with a filthy truck and trailers after hauling through rain, snow and sleet.  I booked it in for a wash and between Christmas and new years the boys and I gave it a polish to bring back the bling…

We look forward to what 2016 holds for us so stay tuned to find out.  Happly New Years from LDS Farms

Well it has been a long time since either Lane or I updated this and I apologize for that.  Not Sure where the fall went but once the combining is done then all kinds of tasks dominate my time and usually don’t have time to type an update. This year was especially busy for me as I had a hernia repaired on Nov 13 so had to get all heavy lifting tasks done. It all went well and now I’m just getting back to work. Started hauling grain with 2 loads yesterday to quill lake and 4 loads today and tomorrow to Saskatoon. When I booked these loads I never dreamt it would be -3 and drizzle.  I’m too attached to my iron and have a pain in my stomach seeing the truck and trailer covered in salt.  I have 2 more loads next week to Saskatoon and some local hauls in between and then I’ve bought me a Christmas present, I have the unit booked in for a truck wash. Then it will likely sit for a while as I hit the road in January with speaking tours.

I’ve booked 2 loads a day so it means for an early unload and then early afternoon. First dump was scheduled for 7 am so I left home at 4:21 and arrived at 6:21 and was dumped and back on the road by 7.  I’ve actually got extra time so killing time until my 2 pm dump.

Red Sovines “Teddy Bear” was playing just as i hit the highway which was a very suitable song given my task today.

Had the family help me set up all the augers as I’m still not supposed to lift and this way I can cut my loading time in half

Last picture is my version of Christmas light display!

I’m promising myself to do more regular updates so make sure and check back regularily so you can keep up with me just living my dream.

Merry Christmas everyone.