Tour explores Ag options in Steinbach

An agriculture and food industry tour hosted by Steinbach Economic Development and Manitoba Agriculture was designed to showcase career opportunities to attendees, made up of career counsellors, apprenticeship program staff, immigrant settlement organizations and others.

Hosted successfully in other Manitoba communities, the Tuesday tour arrived in Steinbach for the first time.

The bus load of attendees met in Winnipeg before embarking on a day-long tour that included visits to Steinbach Credit Union, HyLife Foods, Steve’s Livestock, Country Meat & Deli and Alterra Innovation.

Director of Steinbach Economic Development Michelle Bezditny said the tour helps promote their vision for the community.

“Promoting and marketing Steinbach as the centre of advanced agribusiness drives development for Steinbach’s entire ecosystem and is beneficial for the entire region,” she said. “We know that the ecosystem specifically in the ag-adjacent sectors is quite robust so we’re leveraging our strengths.

This event came about after Bezditny was encouraged to reach out to Manitoba Agriculture by a board member.

“That collaboration was really important between Steinbach Economic Development and Manitoba Agriculture,” she said.

Leanne Sprung, in charge of Youth Leadership Development for Manitoba Agriculture said their goal in each tour is to take attendees on a journey from farm to fork, identifying opportunities with jobs and careers along the way.

“Our goal is to help bridge the gap between the employees’ needs and what companies need,” she said.

The tour concept was based off a successful model developed by the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, and Sprung said it has worked well for them as well, attracting a range of interest.

“We have lots of different folks from different companies, from different post-secondary institutions, as well as newcomer organizations,” she said.

Steinbach’s tour is similar to others done across the province, but Sprung admits because it’s a bigger community, there is more breadth and depth of companies.

“The industriousness of Steinbach and the surrounding area is just awesome,” she said. “It’s well known across the province.”

Sprung said attendees heard about the importance of soft or human skills, such as work ethic, communication, and leadership skills.

“All of the companies have opportunities to advance and learn within their companies,” she said.

HyLife Foods was one of the hosts and also treated attendees to lunch.

Janelle Braun, director of human resources for the farm side of the operation said it’s invaluable to take part in something like this.

“I think the opportunity is definitely to connect with people who are influencing those looking for careers and HyLife is always wanting to bring in new talent and develop and grow people,” she said.

It was also a chance to share the wide variety of careers available in a company such as HyLife which includes legal, information systems, technology, HR, engineers and much more.

“We want to follow that mission of ensuring people know that we take care of our employees, our communities, our customers, and our animals,” she said.

Attendees also included Lane Curry, the director of Red River Technical Vocational Area (RRTVA) and Andy Reimer, a high school apprenticeship program teacher under the same umbrella.

RRTVA operates programs from Morden to Dominion City and Morris but attracts students from as far east as Sprague, north to Rosenort and Sanford and west to Morden.

Reimer said the contacts developed on the tour can be beneficial in matching students to opportunities.

“I’m looking to just increase my network with folks who are working with the apprenticeable trades, partnerships with companies that need electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics,” he said.

Curry agreed, saying it was nice to make connections and see new technology. Most impressive to him was HyLife’s demonstration of their new Class 1 semi-driving simulator.

“It certainly opens up more opportunities for us to connect with the people that hire, people that do HR,” he said of the event.

And while Reimer said he must have heard it before, there was one statistic shared by Manitoba Agriculture that stuck with him.

“One in four jobs in Manitoba is connected to Ag,” he said. “People need to know how important this is.”