It comes after farmers persuaded the federal government to grant special permission to import migrant workers and more recently reports from across Southern Ontario of outbreaks of COVID-19 among migrant workers.
The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council has found that 4,400 farm agriculture-industry jobs were left unfilled in 2017 and predicted the deficit will be greater than 47,000 by 2029.
The NFU-O says there is little understanding among policy-makers or among Ontario consumers of the often-unique labour issues on small and medium-sized family farms.
And it said so far little has been proposed to meet staffing demands while ensuring commitments to sustainable agriculture and fair labour practices.
