Alberta's agricultural industry impacted by Omicron

CALGARY -

The agricultural industry has struggled to hire and maintain staff for some time partly because many people don't want to travel into the country for wages that can be lower than in urban areas. But now that shortage in workers is being exacerbated by Omicron.

TK Ranch is located northeast of Chestermere and has seven staff that raise cattle, pigs, sheep and some chickens. It also has a processing facility with eight workers who prepare cuts of meat and eggs for customers.

It's partly owned by Colleen Biggs who has been working long hours lately.

"I've had the worst six months that I've had in all the years that we've been open," said Biggs. "It's been very difficult to hire and retain staff and even right now with the Omicron variant, I mean we were closed for a week over Christmas, we were reopening Tuesday and three of my eight staff did not show up."

Biggs says that's a challenge for a small operation that still has to meet customer needs.

"I end up working as the owner in the back in the processing kitchen and helping my staff right side by side in the trenches to ensure that we get our production done," said Biggs. "Because you know, if we can't get our product out the door, then we go out of business."

Lynn Jacobson is the president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture and says this story is similar to others all across the country. Jacobson says many consumers don't realize how a small rural work force can have a big impact.

"If they get hit with an outbreak, it immediately affects the supply," said Jacobson. "If it's only two or three days down the road from having that illness within a facility then there's a short supply coming up."

Jacobson says that ranges from dairy farms to mushroom growers. Cattle have to be milked and produce has to be processed by workers and if they get sick, they can't do their job.

"Losing people off your farm and the help can seriously affect your operations," said Jacobson. "If you've got say, three or four people working for you and two people go down, the workload expands exponentially and lots of things, they just don't get done."

That's something that Colleen Biggs knows all too well right now and she can't see an end in sight of the pandemic or staffing issues.

"It's mind-bending as a business owner to think well where am I going to be in a year?" said Biggs. "Are things going to continue to escalate? Are my prices going to have to go up? How much can consumers afford?

"it's all these things as a business owner that go through your mind on a continual basis," she added, "and are we going to get through this?"