Pandemic served up a series of shocks to the sector.Ottawa—While food and beverage makers constitute the country's largest manufacturing sector, their importance isn't well understood or appreciated, says Daniel Vielfaure, Deputy CEO of the Bonduelle Group and CEO of Bonduelle Americas.Domestic food manufacturers buy over half of Canada's agriculture output and turn it into products that ensure “Canada maintains its food sovereignty,” Vielfaure, co-chair of Agriculture Canada's food processing roundtable and co-chair of Food and Beverage Canada, told the Commons agriculture committee last month.The pandemic rattled the sector through “the collapse of food service, the disruption of supply chains, the impact of border closures, the costs to protect our workers and most recently, the fees imposed by some of Canada's grocery retailers.” If these issues aren't addressed, “we will be importing more of our food from other countries and manufacturing less of it here.”The 7,000 food and beverage companies employ 290,000 Canadians and generate close to $120 billion in annual revenue, he said. Even though the vast majority of food passes through processing plants on its way from farm to grocery store, the sector and its challenges are often overlooked.Its biggest difficulty is a shortage of workers, he said. “We simply do not have enough people with the right skills. On any given day, Canada's food manufacturing is short 10 per cent of its workforce. By 2025 we expect to be short 65,000 workers.”“There is demand for Canadian products here at home and abroad, but until we address industry labour issues, our ability to invest and grow will remain constrained. We are, therefore, encouraging the federal government to act on an urgent basis and work with industry to develop a labour action plan for Canada's food and beverage manufacturing sector.”Another major headache is the over-concentrated grocery sector where five large retailers control 80 per cent of the market. “This has allowed retailers to regularly impose arbitrary transaction costs, fees and penalties on their suppliers,” he said. “Most recently, in the past few months, and despite the pandemic, major retailers have announced even more new fees.”The sector also needs to have it workers deemed a priority for Covid vaccinations, he said. “Despite the measures we have put in place to mitigate risk, food plants remain congregate settings, and it is on all of us to do what we can to ensure our front-line workers remain healthy and know we value their efforts.”For now, companies will have to depend on foreign workers, who “come every year for four, five or six months. Some now come for a year. If we succeed in having these workers immigrate and come to work for us, so much the better.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.