Farmers Finding Success in Recruiting Workers from Foreign Countries

Oct 25, 2021

A professional speaker and trainer with tWorks says farmers who have encountered challenges finding local sources of labor are finding success in recruiting workers from foreign countries. "50 shades of beige" will be among the topics discussed as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2021 which will be held virtually via Zoom November 16 and 17.

Tina Varughese, a professional speaker and trainer with tWorks, says farmers are increasing relying on workers from foreign countries, with the top source countries being Mexico, the Philippines, the UK, Ireland and the Ukraine.

Clip-Tina Varughese-tWorks:

I think generationally there's a different face to who's owning those farms. It used to be family run farms that would be handed down to children. Some of the kids now are not necessarily interested in taking over those farms to keep them going and, because of growth, farms are starting to outsource labor to foreign workers.

I have also heard that sometimes it's difficult to find local labor to work in such difficult jobs and yet they find foreign workers to be here by choice, they want to be working, highly skilled and very easy to train in the industry, so those are all positives.

I think as well the industry has changed quite a bit in terms of technological advances in the industry. A lot of farmers are now using very high-tech pieces of equipment, so there's been a lot of change within the industry that is driving a lot of these factors.

Source : Farmscape

Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.