b"An aerial photo of CP Farms Ltd. in Barnwell, Alta.PHOTO: CP FARMS LTD.On Prince Edward Island, the story is much the same for Bryan Maynard who co-owns Farm Boys Inc. with his brother Kyle Maynard. Farm Boys Inc. is in Arlington, P.E.I. and is a 5,000-acre dryland processing and seed potato farm that employs five full-time staff and 15 seasonal.Running a potato farm of this size really requires it to beRunning a potato farm of this size managed like a business. You're going to need upwards of 40 peoplereally requires it to be managed like here in the busy time of the season, which is end of September, October, Maynard explains in a phone interview. You need manya business. Youre going to need hands in the field in order to do the actual harvesting, and youupwards of 40 people here in the need even more back at the storage sheds, for the unloading and thebusy time of the season, which is end proper grading of those potatoes as they go into storage.While you may not need those employees all year working onof September, October. the farm, when the busy seasons come, you need the extra hands to get the work done. Other types of farms such as dairy operationsBRYAN MAYNARDmay require year-round labour, but on potato farms the work is concentrated into certain times of year. Overall, the number of farmers and those working in agriculture is shrinking across Canada. Statistics Canada stated there were 276,977 employees in the agriculture sector in 2021, down 0.6 per cent from 2020. Almost half of all ag employees at 49.9 per cent SPUDSMART.COMFall 20237"