A new report suggests that as other nations reduce their agricultural footprints in an effort to boost sustainability, their loss could be Canada’s human capital gain.

A recent report notes there’s a global crunch coming as many farmers near retirement age, and not enough is being done to fill that gap.

In Canada, 40 per cent of farmers are expected to retire by 2033, which would place agriculture on the cusp of one of the biggest labour and leadership transitions in the country’s history.

That will come on top of an already-expected shortfall of 24,000 farm workers over the same time frame.

The report’s authors say the first short-term step in addressing this crisis should be to identify and recruit 30,000 permanent immigrants who want to establish their own farms and greenhouses, or take over existing ones.