Temporary foreign agricultural workers: From far afield to our fields

For most Canadians, especially the over four in five living in urban areas, the very idea of hot summer days engaged in hard physical labour on farms, orchards or greenhouses is a far from appealing. Hence, every year, Canadian farm operators hire tens of thousands of temporary foreign workers from around the world to get the work done. Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture and agri-food sectors, by industry, topping 74,000 a year since 2023.

In 2024, about two in five of these workers hailed from Mexico (43%), one in four came from Guatemala (26%) and one in ten (12%) came from Jamaica. India, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand were other important source countries for temporary foreign agricultural workers. Approximately three in four of these temporary foreign workers in agriculture worked on a farm that generated $2 million a year or more in revenue.

By farm type, greenhouse, nursery and floriculture farms (32,271 people) employed the most temporary foreign workers, followed by vegetable and melon (15,569) and fruit and tree nut (14,035) farms. Combined, these three farm types generated almost $10 billion in revenue in 2025.

Most temporary foreign workers in agriculture are recruited through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) to come to Canada during the growing season and leave afterwards. Although many of them return for multiple years on new work permits, they have very limited pathways to transition to permanent residency.

Overall, about 1 in 20 temporary foreign workers who first entered primary agriculture under the SAWP from 2005 to 2020 transitioned to permanent residency. Furthermore, over 90% of temporary foreign workers who came to Canada through SAWP and became permanent residents did so through family sponsorship.