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Local farmer to chair national human resource organization

The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture (NLFA) would like to extend its congratulations to Merv Wiseman, the newly elected chair of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) Board of Directors.

Wiseman is a fox farmer from North Harbour, Placentia Bay, and is also active with many organizations including the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture, where he served as president for five years. Additionally, Merv currently serves as Past President of the NL Fur Breeders Association.

“Wiseman’s election as chair of CAHRC comes at an important time for human resources in agriculture, particularly in our region,” said Eugene Legge, President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture. “We are confident that his knowledge and background in dealing with agriculture issues will serve CAHRC well and help to advance the industry in the area of human resources."

In recognizing the importance of human resource issues, the NLFA is hosting a symposium on labour market issues in St. John’s this October.

Wiseman paid tribute to his predecessor, Terry Murray of the Wild Rose Agriculture Producers in Alberta, saying "I wish to thank Terry for his passion and dedication to CAHRC. His leadership over the past three years has helped the Council to begin delivering on its mission to research, develop and communicate solutions to HR issues identified by Canadian primary agriculture. I look forward to building upon those efforts and raising the bar on employment and skills development.

CAHRC was created in 2006 to address primary agriculture's most pressing challenges related to the recruitment and retention of farm labour and skills training for employers and employees. The work of the Council is guided by a Board of Directors that represents national commodity organizations or provincial/federal general farm organizations.