Nearly three quarters of businesses in the farming industry say they are suffering because of the current labour shortage, according to a new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business .
"What it means is that businesses are losing opportunities," Guenette added."Close to half of agriculture businesses in Canada said that they had to turn down sales because of the current shortages of labour. Many small business owners have no choice but working more hours, longer hours and they also have to ask their staff to work longer hours."
"The shortages of labour in agriculture has implications for us as consumers because, you know, it is because of those farm businesses that we have food on the table and we need to make sure that those businesses can have all the workers they need to ensure our food security," he said. "As farmers, our costs have gone up and we have no recourse to pass the costs on to our customers," said one quote from an Ontario farmer in the report."We do not have options that are more 'carbon friendly' so we are stuck with paying."
Guenette says businesses that were happy to come out of the pandemic are still finding it difficult to return to normal workflow.
Not a good look against a looming famine caused by the war in Ukraine. Shame on us.