Canada will lose more than 40% of its farm operators by 2033: report

A new report says more than 40 per cent of farm operators will retire over the next decade, leaving Canada with a severe shortage.

The report from the Royal Bank of Canada, Boston Consulting Group Centre for Canada’s Future and Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph says the country will be short 24,000 general farm, nursery and greenhouse operators.

Paul Pryce, director of policy at the BC Agriculture Council, attributes the growing problem to three main aspects.

“One of them is of course the inflationary pressures, another one, land affordability. It’s just become so much more expensive for any producer to come in or take over an operation,” Pryce told CityNews.

Pryce mentions farmers’ lack of succession planning as the third contributing factor.

“Maybe only about 12 per cent of producers in the entire country have a written succession plan of what happens if ‘I win the lottery’ or ‘I get hit by a bus,’ what happens to that land?”

The report estimates 66 per cent of producers do not have a succession plan in place.

To address the shortage and lack of succession plans, the report says Canada will need to accept 30,000 permanent immigrants by 2033 to take over existing farms and greenhouses or establish their own plans.

It also recommends the country build a new pipeline of domestic operators and workers by bolstering agriculture education and increasing spending on automation, which can make existing farms more efficient.

“Education is a big piece of it … get folks to understand what modern agriculture looks like. I think a lot of people think it’s back-breaking labor, and it is hard work, but there is a lot of technology now involved in it. A lot of exciting things you can do,” Pryce said.

Another solution that Pryce proposes is exploring the possibility of provincial incentives, which could help reduce the cost of just getting started.

The report says this expected shortage will come at a critical moment because Canada’s agricultural sector will need to produce significantly more food for a growing world population, but must also cut emissions to meet climate targets.