A whole lot of scholars bought a style of the quite a few jobs accessible in Ontario’s agriculture business earlier this month in Listowel.
“They’re not the original jobs you might think of, but they’re so important,” mentioned Madison Lammer, from AgScape, a non-profit group selling agriculture amongst Ontario college students.
One in 9 jobs in Canada are within the agriculture and meals business, however with 40 per cent of Canada’s farmers retiring within the subsequent decade, and one other 24,000 agriculture staff wanted, the sector wants individuals, and never simply these tilling the soil.
“We need our welders. We need our food scientists. We need everyone pretty much across the spectrum, soil scientists, everyone. We need them. And yeah, everyone needs food. Everyone wears clothes. Everyone needs things from the agriculture industry,” mentioned Lammers.
At Listowel District Secondary Faculty, college students can enroll in a Specialist Excessive Abilities Main in Agriculture course. College students like Avery Mueller, who needs to be a veterinarian.
College students from Listowel District Secondary Faculty participate in a day of discovering agriculture and the roles accessible within the business in October 2024. (Scott Miller/ London)
“This is a way that I can kind of [to] get more experience and kind of dig deeper into getting to see people who are actually in that field doing it and kind of getting a taste of what it’s like,” mentioned the Grade 11 Ag Main.
Native agriculture companies see the worth in inspiring youth to affix them out within the area too.
Bryan Lengthy from Tools Ontario, together with CASE IH, are donating a model new mix engine for Listowel college students to work on. It’s price hundreds of {dollars}, but when it means future ag workers, it could be price it.
“People think that if they didn’t grow up on a farm or they don’t know agriculture, then they can’t fix something like this. Well, we’ve proven that wrong many times. All we need is somebody that’s smart and hardworking and we can really teach them the rest,” mentioned Lengthy.
College students from Listowel District Secondary Faculty participate in a day of discovering agriculture and the roles accessible within the business in October 2024. (Scott Miller/ London)
Ben Robinson doesn’t want a lot convincing. He hopes to take over his household’s dairy farm close to Listowel sooner or later, however within the meantime, he’s studying the way to repair the gear he could in the future personal.
“You don’t always have to be out on the farm. You could be making feed sheets, doing tests, and stuff like that,” mentioned the Grade 12 scholar.
“People think it’s not for them, but really it is. One in nine jobs right now is in agriculture and food, which is just an insane amount across Canada,” mentioned Lammers.
