Student worker program renewed for farms after 'very successful' 1st year

A student work program that aims to get more young people working on farms and help with ongoing labour shortages will run again this year.

The P.E.I. Farm Team program began last year and employed about 65 students.

Laurie Loane, executive director of the P.E.I.Agriculture Sector Council, said the program did help local farms and was "very successful last year."

"It was so successful that we are doing it again."

Loane said it's a good opportunity to learn about agriculture, as well as giving students extra spending money.

Along with the wages they earn, students also geta bursary $500 for high school studentsand$1,000 for students going into college or university if they finish their contract.

Farms pay the wages andthe cost of the bursary is shared, with 25 per centpaid by the provincial government, 25 per centby the farm and 50 per cent by the federal government.

Lots of jobs, not enough people

Farms have struggled for many years to find enough workers, Loane said.

The council says their job posting service often has more than 200 jobs listed.

It's work. There's no dressing it up, it's very manual labour, there's a lot of hands-on. Greg MacKenzie, MacKenzie Produce

"It's very hard to attract those people to come and work on farms," said Loane.

"We're trying to come up with new incentives, new ideas."

'Wasn't a good match'

Greg MacKenzie, owner of MacKenzieProduce in Stratford, P.E.I., runs a mixed vegetable farm. Hehad to leave about four hectares (10 acres) of cabbage in the field last year because they didn't have workers to harvest it.

"We've noticed the last fouror fiveyears it's been more of a headache to get employees," MacKenzie said.

He hired several students through the program but said it wasn't a good fit for their farm.

"It wasn't a good match" he said."Labour work isn't real popular." He described work on the farm as similar to a boot camp.

"It's work. There's no dressing it up, it's very manual labour, there's a lot of hands-on," he said.

MacKenziehas decided to bring in sixforeign workers from Mexico this year for the first time.

Student job versus career

The P.E.I. Federation of Agriculture says the summer job program is important for the future of farming.

"Labour is one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture in P.E.I.,"said Robert Godfrey,executive director of theP.E.I. Federation of Agriculture.

"It's important to expose people to what farmingis."

Godfrey said he hopes some young people who get work through the program willconsider farming as a career.

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