planTing The seed: vasT C apaCiT Y For Business groW Th in onTario

For over a century, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce has undertaken imperative research on Ontario’s most pressing policy issues, advocating for solutions that will foster the growth of Ontario businesses and lead to the creation and increase of jobs in the province. The Alliance of Ontario Food Processors Food and Beverage Ontario (FBO), was established in 2003 as the provincial professional leadership organization for food and beverage manufacturers across Ontario.

According to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, food and beverage (F&B) manufacturing is a major driver of Ontario’s economy. With 65% of product from Ontario farms flowing through one of the 4,000 businesses that make up this sector, it is critical to our food supply chain. As of 2020, F&B manufacturing directly employed more Ontarians and contributed more to the province’s GDP than any other type of manufacturing.

A report commissioned by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce takes a look at Brampton as a case study and breaks down how to attract and retain talent in the sector and what can be done to fulfill the existing and projected gap.

Ontario is Canada’s top F&B manufacturing hub and the third largest in North America. Ontario’s rich agricultural base, large consumer population, educated workforce and cluster of research institutions fortify its competitive advantage. As of 2020, food and beverage manufacturing directly employed more Ontarians than any other manufacturing sector, including automotive, seeing a three percent job growth from 2018 to 2020. Made up of over 4,000 businesses, the F&B manufacturing sector in Ontario includes start-ups, small to medium-sized businesses, and multinational enterprises.

The reason the Ontario Chamber of Commerce decided to use Brampton as their ideal geography for this study is for three main reasons; A significant F&B manufacturing industry, proximity to key institutions and access and relevance to international customers. The interview conducted by the OCC between December 2021 and March 2022 identified areas for job seekers’ interests, Ontario is developing.

1) Transit and Transportation

2) Immigration and language skills

3) Housing, childcare and the cost of living

4) Perceptions of the sector and the nature of work

5) The changing labor market.

Principal Manufacturing Statistics

Total revenue - thousand $

Food manufacturing [311]

Animal food manufacturing [3111]

Grain and oilseed milling [3112]

Sugar and confectionery product manufacturing [3113]

Source - https://data.ontario.ca/dataset/manufacturing-industry-statistics-food-beverage-and-tobacco-manufacturing

The OCC explored these areas in great detail and during these interviews, identified potential steps stakeholders can consider to address each theme and close the projected talent gap in Ontario’s F&B manufacturing sector. Automation is broadly recognized as an innovation that will continue to change the nature of work in the food and beverage industry. It presents an opportunity for companies to increase productivity and shift employment away from physically demanding and menial tasks, focusing talent on higher-skilled, more knowledge-intensive roles.

Dominic Barton, Chair, Advisory Council on Economic Growth quoted, “We’re picking one [industry] in particular, which is agriculture and food, because it can employ a lot of people, there’s a lot of innovative technology around it and huge demand. There’s going to be a massive demand for food, for protein, over the next 10 to 20 years. It’s also a big employment provider, and we could generate even more employment- and high-skilled employment- because of technology.”

According to the research conducted by OCC in 2020, life sciences, food and consumer goods manufacturers in North America adopted robots at a faster pace than automotive manufacturers for the first time. Year-over-year orders in food and consumer goods specifically increased 56 percent.