20 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2019 IF YOU THINK visually of the term “labour pool,” you might imagine a nice clean swimming pool of people from which you can easily fish for talent that fits your needed job. But that’s far from reality these days. It’s harder to find talent and it’s harder to keep talent with younger generations gravitating toward cities and an overall decline in loyalty. This “labour pool” really is more of a muddy river and much harder for companies to navigate. Wayne Gale, president of the Ontario-based Stokes Seeds, says finding talent and keeping talent, be it man- agement or farm labourers, is a challenge. As a result, the vegetable seed sector could be looking at production constraints due to labour challenges. “Vegetable farming, unlike field crops, is very labour intensive with some operations employing 200 to 300 staff,” Gale says. “Many of them are brought in on the farm labour program from Mexico and the Caribbean. Hiking them to the mandated minimum of $14 was a huge operational cost that cannot be passed down the value chain as many of the Ontario farms are in competi- tion with foreign importers and Quebec operations that have no such increase in wages. “We have had a couple growers pack it in or reduce the labour-intensive parts of their business. Many decided to stay in for 2018 and see how they make out at year end before deciding — there’s no real trend so far but as we begin to book seed orders for next year, we will see who stays in.” In January of 2018, Ontario increased its minimum wage from $11 to $14 an hour. “The increase in minimum wage was almost over- night,” says Gale. “It was quite a shock to all our com- panies and customers. In particular, it’s very difficult for farmers with farm labour — Ontario really didn’t listen to agriculture needs or give agriculture a break on the passed regulations.” Gale shares that even though Stokes pays above mini- mum wage, its wage grid was off due to the minimum wage increase. In response, they had to hike their wage grid up by $1.25, which was more expensive than just increasing minimum wage. While it seems like hiking up minimum wage would be beneficial and easy, there are some con- sequences to businesses that come with it. One industry suffering in particular is the horticulture industry, says Gale. “We have sweet corn farms that need all hands-on deck,” he says. “In Ontario, you have to pay migrant workers the same minimum wage. A lot of farms are deciding it isn’t worth the trouble, and that they can grow field crops instead. That’s the danger — what about food sustainability?” Without vegetable farmers in the North, Gale wonders where food will begin to come from. “Ontario is hurting, because Quebec didn’t increase its minimum wage, so the grocery stores didn’t increase their prices. It makes it difficult for the Ontario farmer to recoup,” he says. Labour is not only more difficult to find, it’s also harder to keep. Alex Martin LABOURPOOLMORE MUDDY RIVER OFA