Reflecting on the Food World Around Us
One of the theory classes that Level 2 students take at Stratford Chefs School is Gastronomy, which seeks to examine the critical issues facing our food systems, sustainability, and the roles food and cooking play in modern culture. An example of a course assignment is to ask students to reflect on the food world around them, and investigate a current issue in Canadian food production and consumption of personal interest. We have received a number of very thoughtful essay submissions on this topic that we think would be of interest to you, our followers.
Examining sustainability and such wide-ranging issues as agri-business labour shortages, urban agriculture in Toronto, community gardening in Stratford, and commercial fishing on Georgian Bay, our students engage with the realities of the world around them with curious minds and great sensitivity. With the students’ permission, we continue to share some of their assignments with you.
Canadian Food in the 21st Century by Karen Huff (Class of 2021)
Is Canadian Agri-Food Production Sustainable?
This report discusses the chronic labour shortage in Canadian agri-food production focusing on the use of temporary foreign workers to make up for this shortfall. My interest in this topic is based on my own experience of agricultural labour, concerns about the rights and working conditions of migrant workers in Canadian agri-food production, and the moral implications of our reliance on cheap food. Consideration of potential policies that could be implemented to improve the situation of temporary foreign workers are also presented.
Chronic Labour Shortages
Canadian farms produce a vast array of commodities for domestic consumption and export including grains, livestock, poultry, fruits and vegetables (1). Beyond the farm, food and beverage manufacturing is the largest industry in Canada in terms of the total value of production (2). Long before the pandemic, Canadian agri-food production was experiencing labour shortages. In 2017, Canadian farmers had 16,500 more job openings than there were workers to fill them and it is predicted that this labour market gap will double by 2029 (3). In the food and beverage industry, a similar picture emerges with current job vacancies of 28,000 (4) and a projected labour gap of 25% by 2025 (5).
The reasons for this labour gap include poor working conditions, pay, and benefits in the food and beverage industry (6) and for agricultural production its challenges include its physically demanding nature, skill requirements, remote locations, long hours, seasonality, and low wages (7). To address this labour shortage, up to 75% of workers in some agricultural industries rely on temporary foreign workers during peak periods of production (8).
Personal Experience
I grew up on a farm and I have experienced agricultural work first-hand including gathering eggs, debeaking chicks, catching chickens, hoeing, detasseling corn, picking peppers and tending the family vegetable garden. I did not enjoy most of this work – the hours were long; it was often hot, uncomfortable, physically demanding and monotonous; it was sometimes cruel and upsetting; and none of it paid very well, if at all. As soon as I was old enough to obtain a more desirable summer job, I jumped at the opportunity to avoid farm labour. Given the statistics cited above, it appears that most Canadians feel the same way.
Temporary Foreign Workers
The majority of temporary foreign workers in Canada are racialized individuals predominantly arriving here from Mexico and Jamaica as well as other Latin American and Caribbean countries (9). They travel here for months of hard work year after year in order to provide for their families back home. Should they try to immigrate here in order to live a better life, they stand little chance of succeeding under Canada’s current immigration system (10) as they are designated as low-skill, low-wage workers (11).
Migrant workers in Canada face many hardships and are vulnerable to abuse including the inability to complain about working conditions without fear of deportation, lack of access to permanent residency, limited access to services including health care, dependency on employers for housing, and economic exploitation (12). Indeed, warnings about systemic problems with the temporary foreign worker program have been ignored for years (13).
Pandemic Problems
The Covid-19 pandemic threw a spotlight on the agri-food labour gap and the vulnerability of temporary foreign workers in Canada. The labour shortage was a major news story as Canadian farmers worried about how Covid-related delays would exacerbate the situation by limiting their access to migrant workers to help plant and harvest crops (14) prompting the Federal Agriculture Minister to consider wage subsidies to allow farmers to hire out-of-work Canadians who would expect higher wages, as well as grants to assist farmers with extra costs associated with bringing in workers during the pandemic (15).
Some of the largest outbreaks of Covid-19 were experienced in the agri-food sector where temporary foreign workers had limited access to basic healthcare, were unable to socially distance, were subject to pay violations and wage theft, had insufficient access to food, were forced to live in unclean living quarters with limited access to cleaning supplies, had restricted mobility, were subjected to surveillance, experienced threats and racism in the community, and faced an additional workload including longer daily hours, limited time off, and a faster pace all without any overtime pay (16).
Policy Changes
The fact that three migrant farm workers died of Covid-19 in Ontario (17) should be unacceptable. Canadians must consider whether our food system is sustainable when it is subsidized by the labour of temporary foreign workers (18). If our food production is feasible because it is exempt from providing a minimum wage; maximum hours of work; time off between shifts; rest periods; food breaks; and overtime pay (19), we should all be troubled by this reality.
The labour gap in Canadian agri-food production is a long-standing problem. If we are to continue to manage this shortage using temporary foreign workers, I believe some changes must be made to ensure their rights and dignity are upheld. The Canadian immigration system should place a higher value on these necessary workers allowing them the opportunity to obtain permanent residency so they can stay here and bring their families (20).
Other suggestions include ensuring access to dignified living conditions and improved working conditions including higher wages, minimum working hours, overtime pay, and access to the benefits of programs they help fund like workers’ compensation and employment insurance (21). I close with these words from a temporary foreign worker, “This is our JOB this is how we survive this is how we take care of our family back home. Without this God help so we are grateful for the job we are happy for it but we need to be treated as equal as everyone (22).”
About Karen Huff
Karen Huff has been an instructor with the Department of Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario since 2004. Karen has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University and has also taught agricultural trade at the University of Guelph.
What inspired Karen to go to Culinary School? She told us that she had been considering a career change for a few years and training as a chef was among her top choices since she loves to cook. Karen graduated with distinction from Stratford Chefs School in 2021!
Footnotes
(1) Agriculture in the Classroom Canada, “All About Food.” p. 18.
(2) Agriculture in the Classroom Canada, “All About Food.” p. 27.
(3) Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, “How Labour Challenges Will Shape the Future.” p.1.
(4) Sylvain Charlebois, “Comment: Agri-food sector still sees labour shortage.”
(5) Rosa Saba, “Leaders in food and beverage manufacturing say the industry is facing a major worker shortage.”
(6) Rosa Saba, “Leaders in food and beverage manufacturing say the industry is facing a major worker shortage.”
(7) Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, “How Labour Challenges Will Shape the Future.” p. 2.
(8) Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, “How Labour Challenges Will Shape the Future.” p.4.
(9) Olivia Chow, “Canada’s growing temporary workforce: a worrying trend.”
(10) Olivia Chow, “Canada’s growing temporary workforce: a worrying trend.”
(11) Canadian Council for Refugees, “Migrant Workers – the issues.”
(12) Canadian Council for Refugees, “Migrant Workers – the issues.”
(13) The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, “Unheeded Warnings.”
(14) D.C. Fraser, “Farmers to know soon whether new wage supports work for them.”
(15) D.C. Fraser, “Farmers to know soon whether new wage supports work for them.”
(16) Canadian Council for Refugees, “Migrant Workers – the issues.”
(17) Shelley Ayres, “Pandemic in the fields.”
(18) Lois Ross, “The plight of farm workers in Canada.”
(19) Legal Line, “Farmers, harvesters, fishers, growers, breeders, and hunters.”
(20) Shelley Ayres, “Pandemic in the fields.”
(21) The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, “Unheeded Warnings.”
(22) Harvesting Freedom, “Message from an anonymous migrant worker at Greenhill Produce.”
List of References
Agriculture in the Classroom Canada. “All About Food – Exploring Canada’s Food System.” Accessed February 9, 2021. https://sustainontario.com/greenhouse/custom/uploads/2016/11/AgScape-All-About-Food-English.pdf.
Ayres, Shelley. “Pandemic in the fields: The harsh realities temporary foreign workers face in Canada.” W5 Investigation, September 26, 2020. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/pandemic-in-the-fields-the-harsh-realities-temporary-foreign-workers-face-in-canada-1.5120806.
Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council. “How Labour Challenges Will Shape the Future of Agriculture: Agriculture Forecast to 2029.” Accessed February 5, 2021. https://cahrc-ccrha.ca/sites/default/files/CAHRC-National-Report-FINAL-August-19-2019.pdf.
Canadian Council for Refugees, “Migrant Workers – the issues.” Accessed February 4, 2021. https://ccrweb.ca/en/migrant-workers-issues.
Charlebois, Sylvain. “Comment: Agri-food sector still sees labour shortage.” Manitoba Cooperator, October 28, 2020. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/comment/comment-agri-food-sector-still-sees-labour-shortage/.
Chow, Olivia. “Canada’s growing temporary workforce: a worrying trend.” FOCALPoint, June 2011. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://www.focal.ca/en/publications/focalpoint/459-june-2011-olivia-chow.
Conagra Food Service. “Aylmer.” Accessed February 5, 2021. https://www.conagrafoodservice.ca/brands/aylmer/.
Fraser, D. C. “Farmers to know soon whether new wage supports work for them.” AGCanada, April 15, 2020. Accessed February 8, 2021. https://www.agcanada.com/daily/farmers-to-know-soon-whether-new-wage-supports-work-for-them.
Harvesting Freedom. “Message from an anonymous migrant worker at Greenhill Produce.” Accessed February 6, 2021. https://harvestingfreedom.org/2020/04/28/message-from-an-anonymous-greenhill-produce-migrant-worker/comment-page-1/.
Legal Line “Farmers, harvesters, fishers, growers, breeders, and hunters.” Accessed February 9, 2021. https://www.legalline.ca/legal-answers/agricultural-workers-and-harvesters/.
The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. “Unheeded Warnings: COVID-19 & Migrant Workers in Canada, June 2020.” Accessed February 7, 2021. https://migrantworkersalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Unheeded-Warnings-COVID19-and-Migrant-Workers.pdf
Molyneaux Law. “Migrant Workers’ Rights: How does Ontario Law Protect Temporary Foreign Workers?” Accessed February 8, 2021. https://www.molylaw.com/2019/07/migrant-workers-rights-ontario/.
Ross, Lois. “The plight of farm workers in Canada.” Rabble, May 23, 2018. Accessed February 6, 2021. https://rabble.ca/columnists/2018/05/plight-farm-workers-canada.
Saba, Rosa. “Leaders in food and beverage manufacturing say the industry is facing a major worker shortage. Labour advocates say it’s a shortage of their own making.” Toronto Star, December 16, 2020. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/12/16/leaders-in-food-and-beverage-manufacturing-say-the-industry-is-facing-a-major-worker-shortage-labour-advocates-say-its-a-shortage-of-their-own-making.html.
Wright, Jennifer. “Canada’s Agriculture Sector Must Adapt to Overcome Chronic Labour Shortages.” CERIC, June 9, 2020. Accessed February 8, 2021. https://ceric.ca/2020/06/canadas-agriculture-sector-must-adapt-to-overcome-chronic-labour-shortages/.
Learn More
Learn more about our Enriched Cook Apprenticeship 32 week program.
Learn more about our Open Kitchen recreational cooking classes, Student Chef Dinners and other events.
Do you have questions about our Program?
Contact us by email admin@stratfordchef.com or call 519.271.1414
Photos | Top: www.medium.com | Bottom: Terry Manzo