There’s more optimism for farmers in 2021

Farmers are feeling more optimism than they were at this time last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down air travel and stranded temporary foreign workers at home.

The workers account for a large percentage of the labour force on many Nova Scotia farms. Without them and uncertainty on when and how many might make it to Canada, some crops that were planted couldn't be weeded, others couldn't be planted, and some were plowed.

Workers did eventually get here, but later and sometimes in reduced numbers.

“With a year of COVID under our belts we were able to plan for it (this year),” said Allan Melvin, vice-president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture.

The quarantine protocols have changed this year in the province, with all workers quarantining for 14 days in individual hotel rooms. Last year farmers had the option to quarantine on farms if they could meet certain parameters.

“That's the biggest change, that the industry and government worked together to come up with this revised plan to keep everyone safe during those 14 days and make sure they're (virus-free) at the end and not have any possible impact on the farm.”

He said last year workers would have had their own housing facilities on the farm and not be interacting with other workers who may already be working, “but there's always a little bit of risk there... This gives 100 per cent certainty that there won't be.”

He said it also eases the administrative and logistical work on farmers of having to have a location for workers who arrive and then having to shuffle workers around to make everything work.

“When they come to the farm this year, they've tested negative and they've spent their 14 days and they're good to go.”

He said he doesn't know how many of the workers that have come in may have tested positive.

He said workers have been arriving for about a month, coming in by charter flights. They take a rapid COVID-19 test, and if it comes back negative they head to the hotel for quarantine. If it's positive, they go to a separate facility where they'll be housed until they are clear of the virus.

“I think it's peace of mind for everyone involved,” he said. It also means farmers aren't facing the same uncertainty as last year.

“There's more optimism that the workers will get here,” he said. “We're still in the early days in terms of our total aggregate arrivals for the year. Things can change, there have been delays to this point, a few hoops and hurdles to deal with, but there's certainly more optimism this year... that we can get things in the field and harvested.”