Pandemic reduces seasonal army of fruit pickers

Securing a workforce to pick B.C.’s tree fruit crops is the next challenge being presented to the province’s agriculture sector by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Farmers have already faced delays in the arrival of temporary foreign workers due to complications presented by the pandemic, said Glen Lucas, general manager of the B.C. Tree Fruit Growers Association, and fewer of them have landed.

Now orchardists are bracing for big reductions in the transient seasonal workforce of pickers this year because border closures are keeping out almost all of the international “backpackers” who typically show up for the work, and it’s uncertain whether domestic workers will show up, Lucas said.

“We don’t know yet. It’s kind of one of those you don’t know till it’s happening type of questions,” Lucas said, “but (the timing of their arrival) seems later right now.”

There isn’t an official census to attribute numbers to the seasonal workforce of backpackers, Lucas said, but his association estimates there are 3,000 of them split between the international contingent and domestic labourers, largely from Quebec.

Lucas estimates that, between those international backpackers who aren’t arriving, and a shortage of temporary foreign workers, the labour pool is down about 25 per cent, “but that’s before we’re short any Canadian backpackers, and we think we might be further short there.”

The province has launched a job-connector website to recruit British Columbians who lost jobs in other industries due to the pandemic, but Lucas said there hasn’t been enough interest to fill the gap.

B.C. has seen some 5,000 temporary foreign workers admitted under its official TFW program, with just under 2,000 landing before the requirement for a 14-day quarantine period at the end of March.

Some 3,000 have arrived since April and have gone through the quarantine period, paid for by the province, at hotels in Richmond before proceeding to farms, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham wasn’t available for an interview, but ministry staff forwarded some information in an unattributed background note as a response to Postmedia News questions. The ministry expects another 3,000 temporary foreign workers to arrive later in June and into July, after typical seasonal patterns for the work.

Of the 3,000 that arrived in April, 24 workers tested positive for the novel coronavirus, 19 of whom have recovered and gone on to work at farms. In 2019, the federal government approved applications to admit 13,500 TFWs, according to the ministry note.

And this year, COVID -19 makes accommodating the workforce of backpackers more complicated, said Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff.

Usually, those seasonal backpackers camp out, McKortoff said, but the closest provincial campground in the region has put a oneweek limit on campers this year.

And provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s order spelling out strict requirements for work camps applies to orchards, which smaller operations can’t afford to meet. That rules out workers simply putting up tents under the trees.

“So it’s really a much more complicated issue this year than it normally is,” McKortoff said.

McKortoff said the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen has taken over operation of a campground north of Oliver referred to as Loose Bay, with the required measures for hygiene and social distancing in place for seasonal workers, but could use some financial help from the province to do so.

According to the ministry note, the province is providing funding to the regional district to help with the costs of operating Loose Bay under the provincial health officer’s requirements, as well as the Creston Valley-Kootenay Lake Economic Action Partnership, to help with two campgrounds in the Kootenay region.