Seasonal Domestic Harvest Labour Access in British Columbia

British Columbia’s agriculture sector faces substantial labour issues including difficulties in recruitment, retention, and workforce engagement of domestic seasonal workers, which significantly impacts its productivity and sustainability. This project addresses the critical need for a comprehensive understanding of the domestic seasonal labour market: who the workers are, what attract them, how we can increase their participation in the short term and long term. The study will focus on collect in-depth interview data from growers and domestic workers in apple, cherry and grape industries in the Okanagan region. The results can provide recommendations to improve the sector’s competitiveness, increase appeal and strategies for recruitment, retention and relationship management of domestic labour.

Faculty Supervisor:

Kent Mullinix;Wallapak Polasub

Student:

Partner:

British Columbia Grapegrowers Association;Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release Program

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Program: