A three-year study by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council suggests that the labour shortage in the beef and pork industries will worsen between now and 2025.

The study revealed that in 2014, the beef industry workforce was unable to fill 3,500 jobs due to a lack of domestic workers.

The pork industry was unable to fill 800 jobs.

By 2025, these industries are expected to see the labour gap widen significantly, with as many as 15,500 more jobs than the domestic workforce can fill.

The most significant factor in the growing labour shortage is the retirement of older workers. Over the next 10 years, nearly one in three Canadian beef workers and one in four Canadian pork workers are expected to retire.

In 2014, labour shortages in the beef and pork industries resulted in an estimated $311 million in lost sales.