Hire a temporary foreign agricultural worker

Primary agriculture

Primary agriculture is defined as work duties that must:

  • be performed within the boundaries of a farm, nursery or greenhouse
  • involve at least one activity, such as:
    • operation of agricultural machinery
    • boarding, care, breeding, sanitation or other handling of animals, other than fish, for the purpose of obtaining raw animal products for market, or activities relating to the collection, handling and assessment of those raw products, or
    • planting, care, harvesting or preparation of crops, trees, sod or other plants for market
  • be consistent with one of these National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes: 80020, 80021, 82030, 82031, 84120, 85100, 85101 and 85103

Hire a temporary foreign agricultural worker

You can hire a temporary foreign agricultural worker under one of the following streams:

Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program

  • temporary foreign worker must be from Mexico or participating Caribbean countries
  • production must be included on the national commodities list

Agricultural stream

Stream for high-wage positions

  • production is not included on the national commodities list
  • temporary foreign worker can be hired for any high-wage agricultural position

Stream for low-wage positions

  • production is not included on the national commodities list
  • temporary foreign worker can be hired for a low-wage agricultural position

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2026-09-16