Farm hands that help work the land

The conventional image of a Canadian farm is a family farm, operating independently with the occasional helping hand from a neighbour. While that holds true for most farms in Canada today, just over one in five (39,170) farms in Canada had one or more employees working on them.

In 2021, farms across Canada employed more people (276,977 people) than the real estate, mining, quarrying and oil and gas or utilities sectors. 

Over one in five farm hands work at greenhouse, nursery and floriculture farms

Over one in five employees working on farms in 2021 were employed at a greenhouse, nursery or floriculture farm (61,015 workers).

Oilseed and grain farmers were the most likely to report one or more farm hands in 2021 and employed the second most people (47,837 workers).

Vegetable and melon farmers ranked third in the number of employees working on farms, at 35,028. 

Sheep and goat farms (914 employees) were the least likely to report having employees in 2021.

Approximately half of the farm hands in Canada are seasonal workers, while for one-third, it is a full-time job

For just over one-third (35.8%) of the farm hands in 2021, farm work was a full-time gig. Greenhouse, nursery and floriculture (24,724 people), dairy and milk (16,100 people), and oilseed and grain (15,506 people)  farmers were most likely to hire full-time employees.

Approximately one in seven (14.2%) farm hands worked part time in 2021, with part-time work most common on oilseed and grain (9,716 people) and dairy and milk (7,707 people) farms.

Almost half (49.9%) of the farm hands in Canada in 2021 were seasonal workers. Almost three in four seasonal workers were employed by greenhouse, nursery and floriculture (30,340 people), vegetable and melon (25,883 people), fruit and tree nut (24,809 people) and oil and grain (22,615 people) farms.

Temporary foreign workers are a key source of labour for Canadian farms

Canada welcomed a record-high 70,365 temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector in 2022, up 15.3% from 2021 and 25.4% higher compared with five years earlier.

Farmers in Ontario hired 29,714 temporary foreign workers in 2022, up 15.0% from 2021 and accounting for 42.2% of all temporary foreign workers employed in agriculture.

In Quebec, the number of temporary foreign workers in agriculture increased by one-fifth (+20.5%) from a year earlier to 21,531 in 2022.

Temporary foreign workers were most likely to be employed by greenhouse, nursery and floriculture (26,224 people), vegetable and melon (14,408 people) and fruit and tree nut (13,557 people) farms.

Farmers hired foreign workers from 146 countries in 2022, with 42.3% coming from Mexico, 26.9% coming from Guatemala and 13.3% coming from Jamaica.

The average age of temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector was 37.

Farm employees make more money producing food than those who serve it

For those who don’t mind hard physical labour and getting their hands dirty, a job on a farm operation pays more on average than a job in a restaurant.

Farm hands made on average $21.75 an hour in 2022, with full-time employees ($22.48) making almost four dollars more than part timers ($18.57).

By way of comparison, employees in the accommodation and food services industry were making $18.50 an hour on average.