FARMS President Robert Shuh encouraged with progress around SAWP

By Jeff Tribe

The wheels of government action may grind slowly.

But Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS) President Robert Shuh believes they are grinding in the right direction.

He was attending the Jamaican Liaison Service’s SAWP (Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program) Diamond Jubilee Award Reception 2026 in Niagara on the Lake Sunday, April 26, fresh off what he termed ‘lobby day’ in Ottawa. His ongoing focus through meetings with ministers and senior officials remains a series of ‘white’ or policy discussion papers around temporary foreign agricultural labour in Canada. Released well over a year ago, the crux of the matter says Shuh, is interested parties are ‘still waiting’ for their findings.

However, based on past and recent experience, he is encouraged to believe there is growing understanding around FARMS’ contention SAWP is the gold standard, not only in operation but its dynamically-evolving nature.

“Nothing is born or envisioned as the gold standard. It becomes that way through a process of continuous improvement.”

Beyond quarterly updates, representatives from Canada and source countries, liaison services, employers and FARMS meet annually to ensure SAWP evolves to meet changing realities.

“This is a 360-degree review of how the past year has gone. We say what parts we can celebrate, what parts need review and then we negotiate.”

Other programs may not be functioning at SAWP’s level says Shuh. However, rather than lumping SAWP into that pool, he encourages quantifying its best features, why it is in effect the gold standard, and applying the best of that to other programs.

“I believe that idea is getting some traction.”

There is also growing understanding Shuh continued, not only of the importance of food security but how it is linked to national security.

“We can easily draw a solid line, not a dotted line, between a well-functioning SAWP being an integral part of Canada’s food security.”

There is sensitivity to the needs for Canadians to find employment, particularly youth.

“But that does not negate the tremendous value the workers coming from all of the source countries provide to Canada’s agricultural sector.”

Secondly, Shuh continues to focus on efforts to develop a common template for worker housing standards and inspection, compared to the ‘hodge podge’ which currently exists.

“That is a technical term,” Shuh smiled dryly.

The fact each regional health unit can create its own template with regards not only to housing but also work and health standards is a problem in that different standards create differing economic requirements for farmers.

“Housing in and of itself should not be a deterrent on which regions of the country can expand and which fade away based on a lack of profitability due to housing costs. We want our workers to be well housed, we want them to be safe, we want them to be healthy. But to use an obvious hyperbole, we shouldn’t have a Taj Mahal in some places and a summer camping trip in others.”

The drive toward standardization is a shared one, including the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association.

“We’re going to get there,” predicted Shuh. “At least a province-wide and ideally a country-wide housing policy, rather than the hodge podge.”

The third pillar of his first year-plus in office is ‘Radical Collaboration’, a term borrowed from a speaker who presented at the the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s recent AGM which sums up Shuh’s own methodology.

“Let’s be very intentional about collaboration,” he explained, an approach incorporating candid conversations on current and forthcoming issues involving partner organizations, commodity groups and governments of various jurisdictions.

“That leads to results.”

Fourteen months into the journey, Shuh remains grateful for stellar ‘co-leadership’ with Andy Vergeer and support from fellow board members and staff, approaching meetings and ongoing challenges very much as a cohesive team effort.

“I’ve never been afraid of ambiguity or having to learn on the job,” he concluded with a smile. “There’s been a lot of each.” 