Canadian greenhouse labor shortages worsened

Added on 10 June 2022

Tags

Canadian greenhouse labor shortages worsened

Canada's labor-strapped greenhouse vegetable and flower growers are ramping up efforts to keep and recruit more workers in the face of pressure from the country's budding cannabis industry, farm groups say.

"Many of the cannabis producers are very cash rich. They've got the resources to pay a very good wage," said Andrew Morse, head of the Flowers Canada industry group.

Canada's greenhouse, nursery and floriculture sectors employ 16 percent of all workers in Canadian agriculture. The industry has been grappling with a tight labor supply for years, and the current record low national unemployment rate is compounding the problem.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government legalized cannabis in October 2018 and the industry has been rapidly expanding. The emerging sector, farm groups say, is posing a new challenge for traditional greenhouse growers.

The skills required for working in greenhouses - whether growing cannabis or flowers or vegetables - are similar.

Even before cannabis was legalized, the horticulture industry lost C$100 million ($76 million) after 2,800 jobs went unfilled in 2014, the Canadian Agriculture Human Resource Council (CAHRC) said, citing the latest data available. That gap is expected to grow to 7,500 workers by 2025, CAHRC said.