Horti industry bowed, not broken by COVID-19

Despite extraordinarily difficult issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill George is optimistic about the future of the Canadian horticultural sector.

"I'm very proud of how producers have risen to the challenges," he says. "They always will find a way to get things done." George is the chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (OFVGA) and is on the board of directors for the Canadian Horticultural Council.

The sector was especially hard hit because of its reliance on temporary foreign workers. George says that when the travel ban was put in place in March, they didn't know if even 15 per cent of the work force would make it into the country. Across Canada, about 55,000 foreign workers made up 20 per cent of the agricultural work force in 2018.

"The week after the travel ban was announced is normally the busiest travel week for workers," George says. Some of his members were expecting 40 to 50 people, but at that point, they didn't know if they would have any.

They were able to work through that problem, and had to ensure everyone followed the two-week quarantine once the employees landed on farms.

"By the time a lot of these operations got their workers, they were five to six weeks behind," he says.

The OFVGA, which has a membership of 3,500 horticultural producers, has been actively involved with government and public health authorities to develop protocols, ensure producers know and follow protective procedures, and encourage workers to get COVID-19 testing. They also recommended that growers create separate teams of workers: those who live on the farms and those who don't.

Source: Country Guide

Photo by Katie Jowett on Unsplash

Source: Country Guide