Employee training supports for agri-businesses
By Janet Kanters, Editor
Hot on the heels of the launch of an online agricultural job finder, the government of Alberta has created an agriculture training support program to help employers in the food supply chain provide training to new employees.
The program will support training for as many as 2,500 new jobs in Alberta, targeted to agricultural, meat processing and horticultural businesses and services on the government of Alberta’s essential service list (with the exception of aquaculture).
Up to $5 million is available in support to farmers, agri-businesses and food processors, to help offset the cost to train new employees safely in new agri-food roles.
The maximum government contribution under the program is $2,000 per new employee, up to a maximum of $50,000 per employer. Grants will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis until available program funding is fully allocated.
In addition, about $1 million in funding will be targeted for meat processors to provide support for new hires to undertake meat-cutting training.
Applications will be accepted via the existing Canadian Agricultural Partnership website, cap.alberta.ca/CAP/program/TRAINING.
“As we see record high unemployment in Alberta due to a global economic slowdown and COVID-19, we need to ensure unemployed Albertans have the opportunity for domestic jobs instead of hiring workers from overseas,” said Devin Dreeshen, Alberta Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, in a news release.
Funding for the agriculture training support program comes from Alberta partnering with the government of Canada to provide employment support programs and services through the Labour and Immigration’s Workforce Development Agreement and through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The program is administered by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.
This job training support complements the launch of Alberta’s Agriculture Job Connector, a web resource to help agriculture employers looking for workers connect with job seekers, alberta.ca/agriculture-job-connector.aspx.