GROWING PAINS
B.C. farmers grapple with labour shortages and a shakeup in supply and demand as the pandemic adds challenges to a sector already facing thin profit margins
Michell’s Farm has had bad years before.
In 1982, the federal government banned Central Saanich farmers from growing potatoes after golden nematode blight was discovered in a local field. The Michell family had been growing potatoes on the Saanich Peninsula since before Confederation.
It was a bad year.
“We pushed forward,” recalled Terry Michell, who was 20 at the time. The potato farm diversified and began growing other vegetables. “It was a huge challenge, but you just go on.”
With 2020 shaping up to be a year of unprecedented challenges, B.C. farmers may need to tap into stores of optimism and resilience usually reserved for times of flood, drought and pestilence.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shortage of about 6,000 to 8,000 farm workers in B.C., meaning fewer field crops were planted this spring and fewer vegetables and fruit will likely be harvested in the summer and fall.
At the mercy of weather and global market forces, farming is always uncertain work, but this year has been extreme. Demand for some crops declined as restaurants closed. It remains unclear how the market for other crops, including exports of fresh berries, will be affected as summer goes on.
Supply chain delays have made it tough for some growers to get fertilizer and packaging materials, while physical distancing requirements, from field to fork, have reduced efficiency in a sector where profit margins are already thin.
The result has been higher food prices. If people are unwilling, or unable, to pay them, COVID-19 could also mean the end of some B.C. farms.
“I don’t want to be doomsday, but the challenges are huge,” said Tom Baumann, an agriculture professor at the University of the Fraser Valley. “We all need to eat, but farms will not be unscathed. There will be some that go bankrupt.”
‘CHORD OF PANIC’
Michell is taking it one day, and one crop, at a time.
Michell’s Farm relies on a crew of about 20 seasonal farm workers from Mexico to help with planting, weeding and harvesting more than 50 crops grown on 500 acres.
The men usually arrive in March and April, but border restrictions implemented to prevent the spread of COVID19 have caused major delays. Only six have arrived so far, while another 11 are waiting out their 14-day quarantine at an airport hotel. The farm also has gaps in its crew of yearround employees, as some were in India when the pandemic began and have not been able to return.
“We’ve put a lot of money in the ground,” said Michell. “I don’t know if it will all get harvested.”
B.C. typically employs about 10,000 migrant farm workers each year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, with the majority arriving from Mexico, Jamaica and Guatemala in two waves, the first in April, the second in June and July.
“They had just started to arrive when everything shut down,” said B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham. “There was a chord of panic.”
The federal government eventually exempted migrant workers from international travel restrictions, and the province announced it would pay the hotel and food costs for those completing their mandatory 14-day quarantine upon entering B.C.
Since then, more than 1,700 migrant workers have arrived, with 14 workers testing positive for COVID-19 while in quarantine, according to the ministry. All have recovered and been cleared to go to farms. Another 1,990 migrant workers were already working in B.C. before the border restrictions, with about 4,000 more expected to arrive this summer.
Nonetheless, B.C. has a shortfall of about 6,000 to 8,000 workers, said Popham. “COVID-19 means there is no such thing as business as usual.”
The government is hoping local workers will help fill the gaps. In late May, it launched a new website called the B.C. Farm, Fish & Food Connector to highlight opportunities and jobs in the agriculture sector.
“We’re hoping to entice people into a field they may not have considered before,” said Popham.
There are about 550 jobs listed on the website, including many that pay about $15 an hour for general farm work on berry and fruit farms or work in food processing facilities. There’s an ad for a supervisor at a rice wine plant in Surrey, paying $27 an hour, another for a marketing manager at a food import company, paying $41 an hour, and several for cooks at an Okanagan winery, paying $25 an hour. There are also jobs for butchers, bakers, accountants, drivers and administrative assistants.
Popham said the ministry wants to help people who are interested in farming and the food system, including young people and women, to find a future for themselves in B.C. agriculture. The pandemic might be an opportunity to test the waters or simply a way to put food on the table in a difficult time.
The B.C. government is hoping to fill a shortfall of migrant workers this year with local workers, but many people don’t want to work in agriculture.
“We need people to step up and help our local economy. If you get a job in agriculture, you’re a superhero,” she said.
Jobs in agriculture have long been a tough sell to local workers, and it’s unclear if rising unemployment will change that.
“It’s very different from what people are used to,” said Glen Lucas, general manager of the B.C. Fruit Growers’ Association. His members are facing a labour shortage on two fronts with fewer migrant workers arriving from Mexico and fewer backpackers from Quebec expected to help with fruit picking.
“It’s hard, physical work,” he said. “Some people love it, but it doesn’t pay the wages they expect.”
While growers are trying to attract locals, including unemployed restaurant workers or those who have lost jobs in the oilfields, they may have wage and lifestyle expectations that make it more appealing to receive government assistance than take a minimum-wage job doing field work.
If growers are unable to get their crops off, it will mean significant losses, said Lucas.
“You could see some medium-sized producers get gobbled up.”
The pandemic has highlighted long-standing issues with B.C.’s food system and the hidden cost of cheap food, said Nicole Drolet, executive director and staff lawyer with the Migrant Workers’ Centre.
“Our food supply is precarious because we rely on people with temporary status,” she said. “All of us will likely feel the impact (of the labour shortage) in the coming months with less availability and higher food prices.”
Drolet said migrant workers are in a vulnerable position because their status in Canada is dependent upon their employment. That also makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19 because they may be unwilling to complain about unsafe working conditions or may work while sick.
“They have a significant disincentive to speak,” she said. “We rely on the work these people do every day, but we treat them as second-class workers.”
Migrant workers should have the same rights as Canadian workers when it comes to sick pay, overtime and holidays, said Raul Gatica, a spokesperson for Dignidad Migrante Society, a non-profit organization started by migrant workers.
“These workers are considered essential. They are doing the work of superheroes, but they have no rights. What good is it to be a superhero with no rights?” he said.
Gatica said that while the province has guidelines for workers’ housing to ensure physical distancing, many lodgings are still essentially bunkhouses with shared rooms and cooking facilities.
In late March, an outbreak among migrant workers at the Bylands Nursery in Kelowna led to 23 cases of COVID-19. The outbreak has since been declared over, but other provinces are still dealing with outbreaks, including one in Norfolk County, Ont., that has infected 164 migrant workers.
“These workers serve two countries, but none of these countries help them. Nobody helps them,” said Gatica.
A DIFFICULT EQUATION
The labour shortage isn’t the only storm on the horizon this growing season.
COVID-19 has changed supply and demand both at home and abroad, forcing farmers to make difficult choices, said Stan Vander Waal, president of the B.C. Agriculture Council.
The upfront costs of planting, fertilizing, watering and weeding crops are significant, with the paycheque coming at the end of the season, after the crop is harvested and sold. Determining how much to plant is difficult in the best years. In the midst of a global pandemic, it’s near impossible.
“The system is geared to produce what we consume,” he said.
B.C. potato farmers were among the first faced with difficult choices, as restaurants closures slashed demand for the potatoes used for freshcut french fries.
It’s hard, physical work. Some people love it, but it doesn’t pay the wages they expect.” Glenn Lucas
Potato farmer Wes Heppell estimated about 20 per cent fewer potatoes were planted for food service this spring, meaning a smaller harvest over the summer and fall, and possibly less availability through the winter. Seed potato farmers, who grow the seed potatoes that will be planted in fields next spring, have to make predictions about demand almost two years in advance.
Other farmers may have to make tough decision as the season goes on. Apple growers may thin their crops while the fruit is immature to reduce growing and harvesting costs if they feel prices are too low or they’re worried about finding pickers, said Lucas.
Exports are also a concern. With fewer commercial flights leaving Canada, it could be more difficult to get fresh products to global markets.
“Our cherries will see the first challenge,” said Popham.
The agriculture minister said the government has been working on strengthening local markets for local food, including efforts to use more B.C. food in government-run facilities, such as hospitals.
“My ministry was for many years focused on international markets. We’ve been doing more work lately to solidify our local market, to create a firm foundation, so that when international is good, that’s good, but when it’s not, it doesn’t cause huge problems,” she said.
It’s still too early to understand how the pandemic will affect fresh blueberry exports, said Anju Gill, executive director of the B.C. Blueberry Council. With blueberry season about a month away, growers are working to sort out health and safety issues for workers at farms and processing plants, with transportation to and from the fields in buses and vans emerging as a challenge.
“We’ll have a better idea in a few weeks what the market will look like,” she said.
B.C. produces about 96 per cent of Canada’s highbush blueberries, with Canadian blueberry production ranking third in the world. Blueberries are Canada’s top fruit export. B.C. blueberries, about 70 per cent of which are exported, are worth about $161.1 million a year to the provincial economy.
While the season for fresh berries is short, frozen berries can be stored and exported year-round.
“If we can’t sell to the markets we usually do, we may lose our spot in the global supply chain,” said Baumann. “If the price farmers get for their berries goes down five cents, it could be catastrophic. There are still many unknowns.”
The UFV agriculture professor is also concerned about the local demand for berries if people are struggling financially.
“Blueberries are non-essential,” he said. “When you don’t have money, you turn to the cheapest foods not the healthiest. Ketchup, wieners and buns. Who’s to say that people will still be buying berries as the months go on?”
Food prices are already rising faster than the rate of inflation, said Sylvain Charlebois, dean of the faculty of management at Dalhousie University.
According to Statistics Canada data, B.C. shoppers are paying 11 per cent more this year than last for beef, 12.7 per cent more for pork, 6.6 per cent more for cheese and 3.2 per cent more for fresh vegetables.
“COVID-19 is forcing the entire supply chain to operate differently,” he said.
Physical distancing can reduce efficiency on farms and in food processing facilities, while personal protective equipment and enhanced cleaning measures add costs all the way up the supply chain.
“Farmers don’t expect there to be higher prices, but I can’t speak to what happens when it leaves us,” said Brian Faulkner, vice-president of business development for BCfresh Vegetables. “We still don’t know all the impacts of this pandemic.”
BUYING B.C.
One positive impact could be the increased demand for local food. Food safety, security and sovereignty have become less abstract concepts in the time of COVID19, giving many British Columbians their first experience with empty grocery store shelves and causing some to seek out food grown close to home.
The boost in demand allowed BCfresh to sell some of its potatoes intended for the restaurant market in grocery stores instead, said Faulkner.
“We were able to pivot. The challenges are ongoing, but being creative is where we shine.”
Deemed an essential service, farmers’ markets have also seen strong crowds throughout the pandemic, said Heather O’Hara, executive director of the B.C. Association of Farmers’ Markets. More than 60 B.C. markets have opened online stores, allowing shoppers to order and then pick up on market day.
While Canada depends on other countries for a large part of our food supply, the pandemic has demonstrated the risks of being too dependent on one processor or one farm for a particular product, said O’Hara. “I think it’s caused more people to think ‘What if we didn’t have farms in B.C.?’”
Baumann said the pandemic could prompt more farmers to sell directly to their customers.
“People trust local food,” he said. “The pandemic represents a fantastic opportunity if farmers can adapt.”
Maan Farms in Abbotsford is known for its strawberries and preparing for harvest as the pandemic changes almost every aspect of their business model, including the fields, where they’ve struggled to secure seasonal workers, and their farm market and agri-tourism business. And yet, the phone is ringing off the hook, said Amir Maan. “Everyone is asking about U-pick. We’re seeing numbers we’ve never seen before. There is so much demand.”
The family is asking customers to book a time slot for U-pick strawberries on their website, which is also taking berry orders for curbside pickup or delivery to one of several farmers’ markets.
“I think we’ll be OK,” said Maan. “I won’t say it’s been easy, but it’s what we do. Farmers are always being forced to innovate.”
On Vancouver Island, Michell is too busy to be too worried.
“You have to deal with it as it comes,” he said.
The farmer managed to secure a nine-person crew to help harvest his strawberry crop, so that’s his immediate focus. Barring a heat spell, which could cause all his berries to ripen at once, he’s optimistic he’ll get the crop off in time.
“I’m looking at the next generation, my kids and grandkids,” he said. “I’m not just going to quit.”