'A huge success': Pilot project helps address worker shortage on P.E.I. farms

Jan 15, 2018

A pilot project connecting Prince Edward Islanders in need of jobs with work on farms has had an added bonus.

The Harvest and Prosper Project ended in December, but some of the participants have been offered full-time employment this winter, helping fill a void on P.E.I. farms.

"The project exceeded our expectations," said Roxanne Carter-Thompson, executive director of The Adventure Group, one of the partners in the pilot program.

"This was a huge need for them, they have been crying for employees."

Change their life

The Harvest and Prosper project helped newcomers, people on social assistance or disability support, to find short-term work in the agriculture industry without affecting any benefits they were receiving.

The P.E.I. government, the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers to Canada and the Agriculture Sector Council also supported the program.

Of 32 participants in the program, more than a dozen landed full-time jobs after the pilot ended.

"So that's a really high number, we're really happy with that number," Carter-Thompson said.

"What it means for them is it's going to hopefully change their life, now that they're on a track of full-time employment and they can provide for their families."

Carter-Thompson said they started the pilot project with 10 employers, all of whom stayed with the program to the end and gave feedback and recommendations.

"We are hoping to see that this project will move forward but we don't have the commitment at this time," Carter-Thompson said.

"But the partners are very happy about the success of this initiative."

Source : CBC

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.