Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/668668
22 MAY 1, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com Canadian farm labor program reaches 50-year milestone. by Dave Weinstock A program supplying seasonal workers to Canadian farmers is necessary to the sur- vival of agriculture in Ontario, according to a new study released by Agri-Food Economic Systems, an economic research firm based in Guelph, Ontario. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) brings more than 30,000 guest workers to Canada annually, with 17,500 working in Ontario. "Their labor creates $5.4 billion in economic activity and 34,280 additional agricultural sector jobs," said Ken Force, a Hamilton, Ontario, vegetable grower and presi- dent of the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS). Despite SAWP being a federal program, FARMS has administered it since 1985, when the Canadian gov- ernment handed the responsibility for running it to the farmers who benefit from the program. History Following World War II, the Hamilton/Niagara area of Ontario experienced a huge influx of immigrants from Italy, Portugal and Eastern Europe. The men went to work at one of the large steel mills then in the region, and their wives went to work in the fields. Seasonal laborers were plentiful. "My grandfather used to say you only wanted to take a vehicle with space for the number of workers you wanted and nothing more or you'd get too many," Force said. The immigrants came to the region with nothing, but as time passed, they eventually made enough money to buy houses and improve their lifestyles. "All of a sudden, in the mid-1960s, all these guys started saying, 'My wife, she's not working any more,'" he said. By then, immigration to that part of the country had all but stopped. There were no new immigrants to take their places and little interest from local Canadians to do that kind of work. The Canadian government launched a pilot guest worker program in 1966, bringing in 264 men from Jamaica. It was a timely decision because by the mid- 1970s, all the original immigrant labor had retired. "They created a bilateral program," Force said. "The Canadian government and the governments of the countries where the labor came from, as well as the farm community, were all involved in running the program." In 1985, the Canadian government came to the farm- ers and said the $250,000 they spent each year to run the program made it too expensive. "We said, 'You can't close it down! It's too necessary!' They said, 'Then you run it,'" he said. So, the farmers set up a nonprofit corporation to run Bringing north to Labor Consider for your next planting: • BRUCE PONDER • SUSAN WILKINSON • ADAM WEIL • DAVE WEIL 503-538-2131 • FAX: 503-538-7616 info@treeconnect.com www.treeconnect.com BENEFITS: • Disease tolerant • Cold hardy • Adapts well to all cherry-growing districts • Forms flower buds and comes into bearing quicker than Mazzard with a better distribution of flower buds Dwarfing Cherry Rootstock Krymsk ® 5 Krymsk ® 6 [cv. VSL-2, USPP 15,723] [cv. LC-52, USPP 16,114] "Krymsk ® 5 and Krymsk ® 6 cherry rootstocks have proven to be the best rootstock for our orchards. They are yield efficient, grow and adapt well, and are cold hardy." —John Morton The Dalles, Oregon 2017 ROOTS AVAILABLE NOW Call Tree Connection: 800-421-4001 Growers: Attract and maintain a steady labor force by offering on-farm housing that sleeps up to 20 workers in high quality, low maintenance structures. We have several floor plans approved by the Washington State Department of Health– fully self-contained units, and dormitory only. They include: • showers • eating area • toilets/sinks • sleeping area • kitchen with appliances - GE • social area • plumbed for washer/dryer Experienced in building H-2A Housing . Our homes are built to perform under the conditions required. We use these quality components: • James Hardie Fiber Cement Siding • Jeld-Wen windows with double-strength glass • Copper water lines • Large capacity water heaters We have over 25 years' experience in building quality farm housing. OVER 320 units SOLD! V ALLEY MANUFACTURED HOUSING INC. 1717 South 4th Street • Sunnyside, WA 98944 Call Brad Busey: 509.839.9409