TOUGH YEAR ON THE FARM.

• Next to weather, timing is everything on a farm and the pandemic has thrown a wrench into the well-oiled machine at Shabatura Produce.

On more than 1,000 acres of fruits and vegetables, hundreds of workers are needed at specific times.

“There's a lot of things that can go wrong,” says Tiffany Chanyi, whose family operates Shabatura. COVID-19 fears and bureaucracy are adding to the stress. “Next week we're expecting 43 employees and today we got the list showing that, if they all pass their test, we should get 37.”

Shabatura also brings in local workers, but the huge operation relies on hundreds of workers who come from Mexico year after year.

An outbreak in that country, the closing of a government office, a change in documentation or a missed flight can each have a major effect.

“We had one situation where our workers were at the airport about to board their flight and were told it was overbooked and they couldn't come . ... We had 10 of them who never did make it,” she said.

Add to that the hundreds of forms that have to be filed to all levels of government.

“There's one very onerous application that has to be done for every three employees. That's a lot of applications when you have hundreds of workers.”

Shabatura is scrambling to retrofit bunkhouses, trailers and houses for the workers due to new two-metre distancing rules for beds.

“We're right down to the hour with our renovations as we build onto our housing and try to provide more privacy and smaller rooms,” said Chanyi.

There are random farm audits and inspections, the need to help workers follow necessary check-ins, since many aren't fluent in English, and monitoring health messages.

And that is at just one Ontario farm.