Please join the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, along with facilitators Barrington Consulting, as we develop a collaborative approach to ensuring a sustainable industry through workforce development and industry capacity building. This session will be held via Zoom.

In 2017, the Nova Scotia agriculture industry saw a labour shortage of 250 workers, contributing to $33 million in lost sales. Despite these challenges, the industry is still growing and is expected to need over 7,000 people working in primary agriculture by 2029 – an additional 300 jobs. Although, the labour shortage is expected to grow, Nova Scotia’s agriculture industry prides itself in having the lowest voluntary turnover rate in Canada. With 43% of the workforce anticipated to retire by 2029, the time is now to develop an action plan to ensure a sustainable workforce and industry as we continue to ensure a safe and sustainable food supply for our communities.

There are currently many stakeholders contributing to this work and even more partnerships to develop. Our goal is to bring all interested parties together to build this vision and action plan. We need innovative solutions and partnerships to achieve success! Whether you provide training and education, focus on employment services for employees or employers or are a farmer employing workers – we want to hear from you!