The demand for Agriculture and Agri-Food occupations in Canada is rising because it is crucial to Canada’s sustainability and development. This sector is among Express Entry’s category-based five occupational categories. The idea of introducing this category is to assist the various employment sectors that are undergoing severe labor market challenges.
This category-based selection draw will select immigration candidates with proper work experience in specific sectors. The first draw occurred on June 28. This is also because the government requires these categories of occupations to flourish.
The Express Entry 2023 categories include the following:
- STEM professions – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics;
- Agriculture and Agri-Food;
- Transport;
- Trades
- Healthcare
The standard Express Entry draws select candidates on the basis of the CRS scores. However, these category-based draws emphasize candidates with work experience in a specific profession or sector.
The reason behind introducing Agriculture and Agri-Food as an Express Entry category
The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council predicts that the Agriculture category will comprise nearly 123,000 jobs. This contrasts the jobs that the domestic labor force will be able to occupy.
This anticipation makes it evident that Canada considers the above category as an Express Entry category because of its demand. Additionally, the CAHRC also states that this specific sector constitutes more than $122 billion dollars per year. This means a significant contribution of 6.3 percent of Canada’s GDP. Moreover, the demand for Canadian food and agricultural products will also rise significantly. This indicates that this sector’s contribution will also increase in the upcoming years.
The above reasons justify why Canada chose Agriculture and Agri-Food as one of the prominent categories of Express Entry targeted draws.
The demand for Agriculture and Agri-Food occupations in Canada
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation published a story about agricultural industry labor on April 29. In this story, Nova Scotia’s president stated that the province will likely face a shortage of over 2,500 farm workers by 2029.
This story was released at the same time when the Canadian government’s Job Bank noticed a province’s employment decline with more than 20,000 industry workers. This data was applicable for more than a decade. Furthermore, Job Bank claimed that employment in Alberta fell by 28,300 jobs. This calls for a 44 percent decline between 213 and 2022.
On the other hand, British Columbia also observed an employment decline of 10 percent for over ten years. It is evident that specific provinces in Canada are facing severe labor shortages in the Agricultural and Agri-Food sector. However, it indicates a massive labor shortage throughout Canada in this particular sector.
Also, prior to the above story, CBC displayed a report suggesting that 40 percent of farmers in Canada retire within ten years.
In addition to this report, 66 percent of farmers don’t even carry a succession plan. According to researchers, the Agricultural industry will face a shortage of 24,000 workers in farms, nurseries, and greenhouses. Acknowledging these factors is essential, and the earlier report states that Canada requires 30,000 newcomers from the farm sector. Only this way Canada will be able to combat the labor shortage.
There have been several stories and data suggesting that Canada’s Agricultural and Agri-Food sectors will need tens of thousands of workers.
Will potential immigrants have several opportunities in this sector?
CAHRC data states that Canada’s agricultural industry has significantly depended on hiring foreign workers. This is primarily due to the absence of domestic talent to bridge the labor shortage gap in Canada.
According to previous data, Canadian immigrants addressed more than 75 percent of labor shortage gaps in Agricultural industries in the country.
Additionally, more than one in six individuals in the agricultural sector in Canada were immigrants. This accounts for 17 percent of foreign workers in this sector.
In 2017, this sector witnessed a shortage as it could not address the labor gap, and 16,000 jobs remained vacant.
Overall, the potential workers in the Agriculture and Agri-Food sector might see a considerable amount of job opportunities.
The history of Agricultural and Agri-Food Express Entry category occupations in Canada
IRCC recently conducted its Agricultural and Agri-Food Express Entry category draw for the first time. This year’s August data of IRCC stated that these draws would imply two to three percent of the rest of invitations issued under Express Entry draws toward the latter part of 2023.
