Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick has a new website
/by Lisa Ashworth
The Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick (AANB) recently launched www.AgriNB.ca, a new website to assist New Brunswick farmers grow their operations and new farmers start their businesses. The website’s goal is to collaborate with national and provincial organizations and governments to facilitate the communication of agricultural resources and programs to New Brunswick farmers.
The AANB developed the new website using its predecessor website, AgriStartNB, which it launched in 2018 with a focus on attracting and maintaining new farmers in New Brunswick. AgriStartNB used the provincial government’s “Farming in New Brunswick … A Road Map for New Entrants” document as its basis for information.
The new website is much more comprehensive and is based on emerging priorities from the AANB’s 2020 workforce development strategy (fermenbfarm.ca/resources/workforce-development-strategy), which addresses agriculture workforce challenges and pays special attention to reducing labour gaps and encouraging new entrants to settle in New Brunswick to help ensure the industry has a reliable and skilled workforce in the future.
“AgriNB supports everyone looking to build a life in one of New Brunswick’s agricultural communities, whether it be current farmers or new entrants from New Brunswick, from Canada, or from abroad,” said Camille Coulombe, the AANB’s communications and marketing manager.
She added, “The vision for the workforce development strategy as a whole was to collaborate with industry partners, such as farm organizations and government entities, and to work towards ensuring that the agricultural industry in New Brunswick has a strong pool of talent to meet both the seasonal demand and year-round labour demand in the years ahead.”
The new website features human resources best practices, workforce development tools for employers, contacts for career counsellors, and other resources such as hiring toolkits and farm succession plans. It also outlines supports for employers looking to hire essential temporary foreign workers.
Other resources on the website include a listing of farmland for sale, site suitability maps from the New Brunswick government, contacts for commodity groups and general farm organizations, and information on agriculture training programs and financial supports for both new and seasoned producers.
The new website highlights relevant material from numerous sources, including the New Brunswick agriculture department, the NBJobs and WorkingNB job sites, the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, Opportunities New Brunswick, the federal immigration department, and Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS).
Camille added that it was important for the AANB to develop an accessible and meaningful website for potential new farmers to discover business opportunities in New Brunswick.
“AgriNB provides industry-specific resources on agricultural careers and employment, land access, suitability maps, financial supports, and key industry contacts to promote the development of a successful agri-business,” she said. “AgriNB is working with the business growth officer team at the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Fisheries to facilitate the connection between new entrants and industry experts.”
From starting a new farm business to expanding a current one, the new website facilitates the creation and maintenance of solid business models, which ensures that New Brunswick farm communities thrive, evolve, and prosper for many generations to come.
Funding for this initiative is provided by New Brunswick’s Department of Post-Secondary Training, and Labour, the Canadian Agricultural Partnership through New Brunswick’s Department of Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Fisheries, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).
For more information, visit www.AgriNB.ca and the new AgriNB Facebook page, which recently featured a six-week marketing campaign that accompanied the launch of the website.
(Lisa Ashworth is president of the Agricultural Alliance of New Brunswick.)
