Several Quebec vegetable growers are recruiting agricultural students straight from the school desks to fill shortages of skilled labor and secure their crops.
“Almost all of the 40 students in the program already have their jobs for the summer. Many have even changed jobs after receiving a better offer elsewhere,” explains Alicia Étourneau, a first-year student in Organic Vegetable Farming at Cégep de Victoriaville.
The one who got her summer job last November is sure that all her colleagues will be hired for the summer season.
“As soon as we show a little interest, we’ll find a job,” adds the 35-year-old.
For some of them it is an opportunity to discover new corners of Quebec and to quickly put into practice what they have learned in their courses.
For horticultural managers, this is a way to meet the demand for weekly subscriptions between June and October.
- Hear Rosemarie Allen, co-owner of Ferme le Paysan Gourmand, on recruiting vegetable growers via QUB radio:
job offer
Young people who have finished school are the vegetable gardeners’ preferred employees.
“With the labor shortage, everyone is looking for people […]we receive many job offers to share with students of farmers and gardeners,” comments Pierre-Antoine Gilbert, teacher and agricultural program coordinator at Cégep de Victoriaville.
Some employers even go straight to the classroom to hire employees.
Many graduates look for an internship at the end of their studies. For vegetable growers, this is an opportunity to get motivated and equipped workers very quickly.
“Every job I applied to, I knew I was almost certain to get a job,” says Samuel Therrien, a recent graduate of the agriculture program.
Research
First and second year students are much more limited in their availability, but they remain very interesting.
“It is certain that the students will leave in mid-August, but their presence allows us to give a good boost,” adds he, who has been working for a year at Le Paysan Gourmand farm, an eco-friendly farm in central Quebec .
In a Facebook group dedicated to people from the farming community called Agriculture Bio-Victo, many are actively looking for collaborators.
No fewer than thirty vacancies have been posted since January for vegetable helper positions alone, mainly in the Center-du-Québec region.
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