“As long as the quarantine act is in place, we expected the funding to be in place,” said Bill George, chair of the Ontario Fruits and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA). “And it’s going to affect certain commodities more than others.”

At the onset of the pandemic, the federal government initiated a $1,500 per worker payment to offset costs of the mandatory 14-day quarantine for the duration of the Quarantine Act. 

Despite lobbying by affected commodity organizations, the government reduced the funds to $750 per worker on June 16 and permanently suspended the program at the end of August.

Why it matters: An Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association cost analysis released in May indicates quarantine costs per worker range from $1,700 to $3,100, creating a significant financial burden on producers..

With COVID-19 test issues and strict regulations around a potential positive test, producers reported some TFWs required housing well beyond 14 days. 

George said the apple sector is now bringing in harvest workers, and unless they arrived on or before Aug. 31, those employers won’t get funding. 

“To me, it’s just disproportionately unfair to part of the sector that are bringing in workers later in the season,” he said. “For the most part, it is the higher figure of the hotel stay plus their wages that growers are incurring, certainly later in the season for sure.”

When the announcement came out, there was hope the federal government would roll back some quarantine protocols at the end of August and gradually reduce funding. 

“That hasn’t been the case. Most workers still coming in aren’t fully vaccinated, so they’re still having to quarantine for the two weeks,” George said. 

“Some workers are coming in with vaccinations that aren’t recognized by our government. So there’s still issues, and there’s still costs being incurred by our members.” 

Ken Forth, president of Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services, said the federal government lacked planning by pulling the funding before the end of the season. 

“Why on earth wouldn’t they just say, ‘at the end of the growing season in 2021, we will no longer have it’,” said Forth. “We still would not have been happy because the Quarantine Act is in place, but go by what they say. But, what they say and what they do are two different things.”

The OFVGA represents 125 crops, all with different harvest seasons and some are not over.

“For example, apples aren’t starting to be picked till sometime in late August. We still bring people in the first part of September for apple harvest,” Forth said. “The big thrust of harvesters come in the season (produce) is going to be harvested in.”

As well, he said payments are slow to arrive, generally taking four to six months from time of application. 

“If you held them in your own bunkhouse, it (the $1,500) would probably (cover) three-quarters,” Forth said. “But if you went to a hotel, it did 40 per cent.”

Edible horticulture crops are not high-margin businesses, and any added expenditure can be difficult for operations to absorb, added Forth.

“I think the disappointment is that, again, agriculture’s left behind. If the Quarantine Act was stopped, that’s a different animal because that’s what they promised.”

Workers’ mental health also suffered during weeks of isolation.

“That was very evident with the workforce this year. Then you layer on the problems with the testing with the Switch Health system,” George said. 

“I had one worker in quarantine for 25 days because we couldn’t get the test results back. That’s an added additional cost on top of a two-week quarantine, more so the effect on the worker’s mental state.”

An indication from the federal government would be welcome regarding how foreign workers will be processed upon entering the country and whether they will have to quarantine. 

George is already planning next year’s applications and doesn’t know if he should bring workers in two weeks early for quarantine purposes. 

“Nobody really knows. Even if they’re fully vaccinated, we don’t know,” he said. “Not knowing what’s coming as far as next year is definitely a financial concern to the growers and stressful to the growers.”

If it becomes financially impossible to fill the labour shortage with TFWs or seasonal workers, the implications are huge, said George.

“Probably the better question to ask is, where does your food come from? Because it won’t be coming from Ontario,” he said. 

“That’s how integral they are to food production in Ontario. There’s just no possible way, without temporary foreign workers, that we could operate the farms as we are currently.” 

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OMAFRA and producer groups came together to create a 35-point plan that outlines areas of responsibility and direction to help reduce spread of the virus.

Why it matters: Some of the largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in Ontario have been at horticulture and greenhouse farms.

The new strategy was announced Nov. 16 at Mastronardi Farms in Kingsville.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic farmers have been working hard to ensure the safety of essential farm workers,” said Bill George, chair of the board of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (OFVGA).

Those efforts have meant that essential food has been able to continue to be delivered to Canadians, he says.

He says collaboration between producer groups and government need to continue in order to protect farm workers.

“We looked ahead to the 2021 growing season and we want to take what we have learned and prepare so we can do more so we can protect our agri-food workers,” said Ernie Hardeman, Ontario’s minister of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs.

He says a group of government ministries including OMAFRA, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Training, Labour and Skills Development have worked together on the strategy.

“We have made good progress, but over the next several months leading to the planting and growing season we need to sustain our communications with and support to farmers and agri-food businesses to make sure they are well informed and well prepared with the best practices for workers’ safety,” said Hardeman.

He was also joined by Keith Currie of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and George Gilvesy chair of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers.

There are plans in the strategy that aim to protect workers, to address immediate pressures from COVID-19, including planning, worker arrival and daily testing. The strategy also contains recommendations to manage the disease longer term, as well as general worker health and safety practices that can reduce disease risk.

The strategy addresses several areas of challenge when it comes to managing COVID-19 and can be read at the OMAFRA website.

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The program is the first of its kind in Canada and has been actively lobbied for by fruit and vegetable growers. It is being funded by both the provincial and federal governments.

The program means that growers enrolled in crop insurance for the 2020 season will have access to coverage against production losses arising from COVID-19 impacts on their workforce.

According to the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA), the program will specifically cover travel disruptions of workers that arrive under the seasonal and temporary foreign worker programs due to COVID-19, and illness or quarantine in the event of an on-farm outbreak.

“This announcement is an important first step towards giving growers assurances that this government will have their backs during the pandemic,” said Bill George, chair of the OFVGA. “We thank Minister Bibeau for making this enhanced coverage possible, and we thank Minister Hardeman and the Ford government for their leadership, and for being the first provincial government in Canada to take this step.”

The OFVGA says the program was rolled out unusually quickly.

“It was developed and rolled out at a speed and urgency that is highly unusual for new safety net measures. This was only possible by using an existing program like crop insurance with its yield data and underwriting/adjustment processes,” the organization said in a release.

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Testing workers on farm can help limit the spread of the disease, says the OFVGA.

Why it matters: Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 on fruit and vegetable farms have created concern about proper protocols.

“With the recent outbreaks that we have seen on some farms we believe it is a good idea for employers to test the workers on their farms rather than taking them to a centralized location. We feel it is much safer for workers,” says OFVGA Chair Bill George.

Lack of quarantine and public health protocol enforcement by some provincial recruitment agencies is another reason for this recommendation.

Outbreaks on farms have continued to keep the Windsor area from moving to Stage 2 of re-opening from COVID-19 lockdown. On June 22, 31 of 32 new cases in the area were from farm operations.

It is advised that growers working with provincial recruitment agencies ensure the agencies are following strict quarantine and public health requirements.

The OFVGA has also advised that growers implement policies to create separate teams of workers for those who reside on farm and those who do not.

OFVGA says it is working closely with the Ontario government and health authorities to protect all essential workers on Ontario farms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The industry is recognizing that there is a significant gap in oversight with respect to contract workers that move from farm to farm,” says George. “The OFVGA is prepared to immediately work with government to develop regulations for how these recruitment agencies operate to ensure workers are protected and public health protocols are being enforced.”

To support agricultural workers and address concerns, the OFVGA is launching a five-point plan for producers:

• Work with government so that testing is made available on-farm to decrease the risk of spread amongst workers congregating at central testing locations.
• Work with government to develop and distribute culturally appropriate communications that address stigma and fears associated with COVID-19 and positive status so that workers feel comfortable being tested.
• Work with government, public health officials and growers to distribute communications to workers that make it clear that no worker is at risk of being sent home if they test positive or develop symptoms.
• Work with government to ensure all employees that test positive or are required to isolate have access to Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) or equivalent wage replacement coverage.
• Work with government to increase the use of active temperature screening of agriculture workers before work begins each day as a best practice by employers.

“We want to make sure we are getting ahead of this thing and make sure if there is a positive with a worker that it is dealt with, that the worker will be isolated and then will hopefully go back to work when (safe to do so),” says George.

The OFVGA says it continues to work with government so agriculture worker testing and public health protocols mirror other essential service industries.

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It is part of PMRA protocol to re-evaluate pesticide products every 15 years, or sooner, as science evolves and new information, methodologies and approaches become available to ensure the use of the product continues to be acceptable with current standards.

Why it matters: Bravo Zn and Echo, two products with the active ingredient chlorothalonil, are used often by horticulture growers and the regulation changes have added some additional challenges for managing diseases.

Bravo Zn and Echo have been used in Canada since the late 1970s.

Chlorothalonil contains multiple modes of action making these two products a low risk for resistance development among diseases.

“Where alternative products do exist for chlorothalonil, most are single site fungicides, which have a higher tendency for resistance development — some cases have already been documented in Canada,” says Chris Duyvelshoff, crop protection adviser with the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Grower’s Association.

With Bravo Zn and Echo’s low resistance development traits, the products are a foundation for many disease control programs, says Duyvelshoff.

For most cases the number of permitted uses per season is decreasing, creating major challenges to growers.

“Potatoes will be most affected; their number of applications will be reduced, probably the bigger impact in general of the decision,” says Dennis Van Dyk, vegetable specialist with OMAFRA.

“Growers will need to look to alternative fungicides for disease control if available,” says Duyvelshoff. “For some crops there are several alternatives, such as potatoes, with some limitations, however some specific crops, such as celery, have very few alternatives.”

For the remaining 2019 season, growers are to use chlorothalonil-based products as labelled.

“Effective May 11, 2020, new label directions will apply to all products formulated with chlorothalonil, reflecting the required changes associated with the re-evaluation decision,” says Chris Davison, head of corporate affairs with Syngenta Canada.

“The PMRA are publishing new labels prior to May 11, 2020 and will be affixed to products that growers purchase for use in the 2020 season and beyond.”

Van Dyk published a guide on the changes to the Bravo Zn label. It can be found on the ONVegetable website.

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Not every school that uses Fresh From The Farm gets a visit from a farmer, but Streef, whose family helped start the program, takes the time to talk to children who are part of the fresh vegetable sale program.

Why it matters: Local markets are important to Ontario growers so a program that provides that, while also delivering healthy food and a healthy message to school children is a win on many levels.

Streef said when he delivers produce to schools where the bundles are prepared, he finds the children are always happy to see him.

What’s in it?: This year, participating schools will be taking orders on two different bundles:
Bundle A (five lbs. of white potatoes and three lbs. each of carrots, yellow onions and sweet potatoes for $14)
Bundle B (an eight-lb. box of Empire apples for $15).

“Some of them never get to see a farmer. Some of them have never met a farmer,” he said.

He finds children awestruck to see 50 pounds of potatoes in a single box or bag.

“I say to myself, ‘You should see my 17-million-lb. pile at home.’

“The questions they ask, I wonder, ‘How do you not know that?’ Then I kick myself a little and remember not everyone knows about farms, and this is a great opportunity for them to ask someone.

“They ask all kinds of questions, and I love answering all of them.”

The Fresh From The Farm program offers farmers a new market for their produce and schools the opportunity for an effective fundraiser.

Since its inception, the program has seen 1,165 schools raise more than $1.1 million for their own programs from the sale of 2.7 million pounds of fresh produce. The program continues to grow.

This is the sixth year for the program, said Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association program manager Dan Tukendorf.

“We hope it will be the biggest, exceeding the 500 schools participating last year,” he said.

Last year, the program sold over a million pounds of Ontario-grown fruits and vegetables, and raised over $500,000 for their school communities.

“Local Ontario fruit and vegetable producers have a new market to sell their produce into the school community, an alternative that didn’t exist five years ago,” said Tukendorf.

Fruit and vegetable sales give the schools a healthy fund-raising alternative to the typical chocolate almonds and wrapping paper, a shift to apples and other produce people need and use every day.

It also allows the schools to introduce a food-literacy component that helps connect schools and children with a better understanding of what’s produced in Ontario.

He gave credit to the Streef family of Princeton, Ont., whose third-generation farm has been in business for 40 years.

Nathan Streef recalled how they were inspired by a similar program called Pick of the Crop in Manitoba. They rolled up their sleeves, enlisted some key community partners and saw it take off from there.

“We’ve been doing it ever since,” Streef said.

“It first started with only 20 schools. Now 500 to 600 apply every year.”

One of the significant partners, in addition to Tukendorf’s organization, is Dietitians of Canada, which now operates the program.

Dietitians of Canada spokesperson Lisa Mardlin-Vandewalle said the organization took on the project to offer a program that supports the provincial government’s Student Nutrition Program and also helps to stimulate the local economy.

At Colborne Public School, in Northumberland County, principal Joanne Shuttleworth is in the midst of her own school’s Fresh From The Farm program. She said it was a popular fundraiser over the past several years when she was at Murray Centennial Public School in Trenton, and she expects similar results at her new school.

“We like to promote healthy eating here, breakfast program, healthy-snack bin,” Shuttleworth said.

“This is an extension of that, promoting healthy eating at home with families. And it’s a great fundraiser for the school.”

In Northumberland County produce for the program is sourced through the Food 4 All warehouse with Northumberland Food For Thought as a partner.

Food banks and other programs, including schools, that use the Food 4 All, buy annual memberships, Food For Thought community-development co-ordinator Beth Kolisnyk said. In return, they get the Fresh From The Farm produce and a monthly offer of quality fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs and cheese.

For Northumberland growers, this monthly arrangement amounts to an additional market.

“We offer support in terms of resources and apply for grants and try to collect funding so we can make purchases like cheese or apples that we offer to school,” Kolisnyk said.

For Streef’s part, he has a special affinity with the students who are part of Fresh From The Farm, knowing that he is something of an ambassador for the farming community to kids who weren’t as lucky as he was to grow up on a farm.

At about the time he was working on getting the program organized, he was a young man buying his own share of the family operation.

The Streef farm began back when his grandfather came from Holland with about $20 in his pocket. He worked hard and was eventually able to send for his wife. Five sons later, Streef said, his grandfather had the hobby farm he’d always wanted, seven acres of tulips that, in time, grew to 3,000 acres of vegetables.

This was more than his grandfather really wanted to work, Streef said, so the sons took it over. Now a third generation is getting involved.

Streef said he and his brother were in their early 20s when they bought their share.

“But that was the idea from the start, for my dad and my uncles to pass it on,” he said.

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