International ag interns no worker panacea

Bringing in experienced workers has pluses and minuses as a labour strategy

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Published: January 17, 2023

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Manitoba farmer Chris Raupers was among the panel speakers during the opening day of Manitoba Ag Days Jan. 17-19.

A farm kid from Germany, Sweden or Switzerland might be the answer to your labour needs, but it’s neither simple, nor straightforward to bring one into Canada to work on your farm.

A panel discussion at Manitoba Ag Days highlighted some of the experiences farmers and immigration consultants have had accessing international labour.

Chris Raupers farms near Cardale, about half an hour northwest of Brandon, after immigrating from Germany with his parents many years ago.

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This memorial for Bob Mazer was posted on Mazergroup's official Facebook page July 8. Photo: Facebook/Mazergroup

Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer dies

Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer, who helped grow his family’s company into a string of farm equipment dealerships and the main dealer for New Holland machinery in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, died July 6 from cancer.

“My father worked with a local full-time employee,” Raupers said. “For the ‘extra seats’ that we needed filled at peak periods, we used German students.”

For more on this topic, see the Jan. 26 edition of the Manitoba Co-operator.

Manitoba Ag Days returned to Brandon’s Keystone Centre this year from Jan. 17-19.

About the author

Gord Gilmour

Gord Gilmour

Publisher, Manitoba Co-operator, and Senior Editor, News and National Affairs, Glacier FarmMedia

Gord Gilmour has been writing about agriculture in Canada for more than 30 years. He's an award winning journalist and columnist who's currently the publisher of the Manitoba Co-operator and senior editor, news and national affairs for Glacier FarmMedia. He grew up on a grain and oilseed operation in east-central Saskatchewan that his brother still owns and operates, and occasionally lets Gord work on, if Gord promises to take it easy on the equipment.

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