Help on the way for overworked farmers

Monday, October 6, 2014

The Centre for Social Innovation in Agriculture (CISA), based in Victoriaville, Que., has launched a pilot project that will give overworked farmers a break by offering highly qualified temporary replacements.

A CISA report on the Farmer Relief Services (FRS) project says that France has had a structured network of substitute farmers since 1972, with 12,000 substitutes and 70,000 farm owners enrolled. A Google search of "farm relief services" turns up companies in Ireland and New Zealand.

Right now, no such service exists in Canada, and farmers who are sick or injured must often suck it up and work through the pain. Attending an important family event or just plain taking a vacation is difficult to plan. All this can be hard on farmers. FRS lead Michel Gendreau told CBC News that agricultural workers are twice as likely to suffer psychological stress as non-farming Canadians.

So far, the CBC reports, 30 farmers are enrolled in the project. The CISA report describes a system in which the farm owner pays a membership fee and makes replacement requests to the FRS. The substitute – trained, managed and paid by the FRS – would visit the farm beforehand to "learn about the characteristics of the farm and the farm owner."

In hiring these replacement farmers, CISA foresees the creation of a new job market.

Gendreau told the CBC he hopes to expand the program to cover the entire Centre-du-Québec region.

Maybe we'll see how those replacements do first! BF