В Канаде призывают сохранить аграрные программы в вузах из-за нехватки кадров

Features Business People Inside View: What’s the future look like? Gary Jones on why celebrating the sector's young talent is only the start; the real challenge lies in building the pipeline behind them July 6, 2026  By Gary Jones Talking Points The greenhouse industry is celebrating its young talent through the 'Top 4 Under 40' initiative, highlighting the importance of attracting new growers. At the recent ACT Grower Summit in British Columbia, panellists discussed challenges in horticulture, emphasizing the need to make the field appealing and to retain skilled employees. Key insights included: - Participants expressed passion for their work, driven by customer satisfaction and plant care. - Panelists stressed the role of supportive workplace cultures in employee retention. - Concerns were raised about the sustainability of horticulture programs in post-secondary institutions amid economic pressures. This story underscores the critical need for innovation and support in horticulture to ensure a vibrant future for the industry in Canada. No, this isn’t crystal ball musings on future politics and trade, thankfully. One of the highlights of the Greenhouse Canada calendar is the ‘Top 4 Under 40’. A time to celebrate some of the great young(-er) team members of our industry. Personally, I love hearing their stories and learning why they enjoy their work. If it’s true that ‘if you truly enjoy your work, then it’s not really work’, can we say that the nominees in this celebration have never done a day’s work in their lives? A bit cheeky, perhaps. But this highlights the question of how do we bring new people into the greenhouse industry, and craft the next generation of growers? Seems like we’ve been asking this same question for decades, doesn’t it? Skirma Dab (of UBIX BIO) says we need to make horticulture ‘cool’, like Matt Damon as the botanist in The Martian1. So true, Skirma. At the time of writing, many of us just enjoyed a fantastic ‘ACT Grower Summit, BC’2. One of many highlights was a grower panel, discussing greenhouse energy, water supply, and pests. We also spoke to the issue of future growers. Panellists shared what gets them out of bed to ‘work’ each day, given the significant challenges in this new, unpredictable business climate. Here’s what they said (paraphrased): ‘The people, the plants, and the great machinery and equipment’ ‘Figuring out the plants’ needs and remedies for plant problems’ ‘The satisfaction of seeing customers get so much pleasure from purchasing fresh, local produce, knowing where it’s grown’. One of the attendees told me she’d been in the greenhouse for about eight years, stumbling into her role from a range of previous jobs (including photographer and food service) where she wasn’t feeling fulfilled. She now feels ‘at home’ working with plants. I thought this fit so well with Chris Beytes’ editorial in GrowerTalks about ‘Ikigai’. “It’s a Japanese term for finding the balance between doing what you love, doing what you’re good at, doing what the world needs and—ideally—doing what you can be paid for. Say “icky guy” and you’ll have the approximate pronunciation. Interestingly, I know that many of you find your work in horticulture to be your ikigai.”3 These are fantastic feel-good stories. The challenge is how we get the public to hear them and so catch something of the contagious enthusiasm for what we do. It’s also incumbent upon business owners and managers to do their utmost to retain and develop good employees. A panel member at the ACT Summit told me he’s found his ‘industry home’ here in BC having moved from Colombia and has no intent to move on because his company has created a compelling culture of employee support and development. It’s a tangible ongoing commitment to helping people be the best they can be. That mindset pays long-term dividends to both employee and employer alike. Back to the ACT Summit: discussion touched on the place of our universities and colleges that provide horticulture programs, and how they can best serve the industry. Panel members said their post-secondaries are generally doing a good job in BC and Alberta. But we mustn’t take these programs for granted, as there’s so much pressure on the economics of education these days. I was sad to hear of program closures in the UK: “Current and former agriculture students at the University of Nottingham have voiced concern following the university’s proposal to suspend its undergraduate agriculture degrees from next year. The proposed cuts, announced to staff and students … would mean that no new undergraduates will be accepted onto the affected courses from the 2026/27 academic year. … The move forms part of Future Nottingham, a university-wide restructuring programme designed to address financial pressures and reshape the institution. … Agriculture, which has been taught at Nottingham’s Sutton Bonington (SB) campus since the 1890s, is among the subjects earmarked for suspension.”4 As a graduate of this program with very fond memories of ‘SB’, where I was instilled with much of my enthusiasm for horticulture, this news hit particularly hard. For the sake of potential future employees, we have to fight any such closures here in Canada. References - Skirma Dab, Earth Microbials, personal communication. 6 May, 2026. - ‘ACT Grower Summit, BC, 2026’, Northview Golf Club, Surrey, BC. 6 May, 2026. - Beytes, Chris, ‘Ikigai’. GrowerTalks, 31 Dec. 2025. - Farmers Weekly, ‘UK: Nottingham students urge rethink on agriculture degree pause’. Nov 2025. Gary Jones has worked in many aspects of the horticulture industry in BC, the UK, and elsewhere, and welcomes comments at [email protected]. READ MORE from Gary Jones in Greenhouse Canada.