By Dori Modney with files from Alberta Agriculture

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to create approximately 800 youth jobs in the coming year

Jul 24, 2020 | 9:09 AM

OTTAWA, ON. — About 800 new positions are expected to be created through the Youth Employment and Skills Program for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s 2020/2021 program year.

The Federal Government announced an additional funding of $9.2 million in May of this year, to help the agriculture industry attract Canadian youth, ages 15 to 30, to their organizations to assist with labour shortages brought on by the pandemic. It was announced at that time, that the program would fund 700 youth jobs.

The enhanced program, which launched on May 26 of this year, is now fully subscribed and the application intake is closed.

The program provides youth from across the country, and particularly youth facing barriers to employment, with job experience in agriculture, which will provide career-related work experience.

The government took steps to ensure the resilience of the food supply chain and to provide support to keep the agriculture sector strong during the pandemic.

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Applicants for the Youth Employment and Skills Program included producers, agri-businesses, industry associations, provincial and territorial governments, Indigenous organizations and research facilities.

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, noted the labour shortages brought on by the pandemic have had.

“The applications received for this program demonstrate that youth are eager to take advantage of the many employment opportunities available in the agriculture and agri-food sector and to gain valuable work experience. I am pleased to see so many young Canadians interested in challenging and meaningful careers in one of our country’s most dynamic and resilient sectors.”

Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) is an Employment and Social Development Canada-led horizontal initiative involving 11 federal departments and agencies.