The Toronto Agri-food Summit | Farm to Fork Career Fair, held on February 26th, 2024 at the Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, was the largest Aspire event yet that aimed to foster youth interest in the Agri-food sector.

This initiative, part of the Aspire Farm to Fork Career Fair series, traversed Ontario – beginning in Windsor, convening in Ottawa and Niagara, culminating in Toronto – to spotlight the diverse career opportunities in Agri-food.

The summit invited 400+ young job seekers to network with employers and exhibitors through interactive booths. These engagements offered insights into various roles and in-demand careers within the Agri-food sector that young people in the City of Toronto don’t often hear about. First Work welcomed employers, exhibitors, colleges, and entrepreneurs from different sub-sectors within the Agri-food industry, including agriculture, food and beverage manufacturing, food warehousing, grocery, restaurants, agritech, agriculture education, agri sciences, agritourism, and essential services.

Speaker sessions offered candid advice through career exploration sessions in culinary arts, agriculture, food safety and quality assurance, entrepreneurship, and food science. This inclusive approach ensured a broad representation of the Agri-food ecosystem, underlining the sector’s vital role in feeding Ontario and its capacity to offer diverse career paths to the youth.

• First Work member, InStage Inc., provided interview simulation demos to young people throughout the event. Participants could have real-time conversations with simulated AI characters in a typical job interview format and gain feedback about their answers. This gave many attendees confidence to talk to employers and exhibitors throughout the day.
• Durham College also participated as an exhibitor and speaker for the event to showcase their Horticulture Food and Farming program with an on-site farm that employs students throughout the year. Durham College’s program has many exciting opportunities, including hydroponics and aquaponics.
• Shane Harper, the Farm Manager from Pearl Morissette, and Aldo Camarena, the Co-Chef at The Little Jerry, did sessions on the innovative and unique sustainable agricultural projects that they have been working on in the culinary world. This was an exciting opportunity to showcase the restaurant industry in a time of rebuilding post covid to encourage and excite young people to consider careers in local culinary establishments.

This initiative was supported by RBC Future Launch and the Government of Ontario, with the support of the Charitable Gaming Association of Ontario and Loblaw Companies Limited. The event demonstrated the collective effort of the sector to work with industry professionals to nurture the next generation of Agri-food; emphasizing the importance of engaging young people in meaningful career exploration within the Agri-food sector.

Keep scrolling for pictures of the event!