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Without a doubt, labour has been and continues to be one of the most significant impacts of the pandemic in the farm economy. As recently as January, we had greater confidence that finding and getting labour for farming would be back to normal.
For temporary farm workers (TFWs) coming to help Canadian farms through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker and Ag Stream Program, the expectation of normalcy was turned upside down by new travel restrictions as well as testing requirements, announced January 29:
- Commercial airlines immediately halted flights from Mexico and the Caribbean, forcing a scramble to establish charter flights to get workers to Canada.
- Foreign workers needed to get tested within three days of their departure - the travel logistics for workers in rural areas to get to an urban lab and the ability to pay the tests were issues. Even the availability of the testing was uncertain at the time of the announcement, but seems to have been resolved early on.
- An increase in ‘no shows’, which can be caused by any of the new COVID-19 changes, has itself caused a lot of rescheduling for MiTierra and the Western Agricultural Labour Initiative. WALI has stepped up its activity to assist in communications with growers of flight arrangements and changes.
- The Canadian Embassies issuing work permits instituted new processes that take longer and initially caused confusion. There is a lack of capacity at the Mexican Ministry of Labour (STPS) to deal with the added work and to ensure worker recruitment systems are working properly.
- There was confusion about whether workers on SAWP and Ag Stream would have to add the three-day government quarantine to their already-required 14-day quarantine. In general (there are some exceptions that mainly apply to provinces other than BC), the government has recently clarified that the additional three day federal government quarantine is not required.
The Western Agriculture Labour Initiative has been instrumental in coordinating flight schedules, worker arrivals, and minimizing ‘no shows’ by communicating with airlines, individual workers, the Mexican Ministry of Labour and growers.
COVID-19 and other changes in government systems and capacities have resulted in frustration for growers wanting to know the status of their workers. Are the workers ready to travel? Do the workers have all of the work visas and testing documents required to board the plane?
Tip #1. The employer can assist with the information flow by staying in contact with any returning workers. Most workers use Whatsapp to communicate with family and employers.
There is an overwhelming amount of communications to coordinate COVID-19 requirements and travel, and overload can happen when employers call for information on their workers’ status.
Tip #2. Be patient. MiTierra and WALI are working extremely hard to ensure your workers arrive. Communicate with WALI by email, and indicate in the email header when the expected arrival of the workers is, and the nature of your inquiry (e.g. April 14 original arrival date, no confirmation yet; or April 14 flight paid, no confirmation workers are booked on the flight).
In addition to the changing travel requirements, there is a new registry for all employers. Keep onside of this new requirement, as it is fairly easy and fast to register online at no cost.
Tip #3. Growers should register on the BC TFW Registry prior to or at the time of completing the Labour Market Impact Assessment, the application that is submitted to Service Canada. A COVID-19 inspection of housing is required before the foreign workers arrive.
Tip #4. Contact the regional health district (eg. Interior Health) to get a COVID-19 housing facility inspection.
The federal government provided several programs to assist with the additional costs of the COVID-19 rules. The $1,500 per worker assistance helped growers pay workers’ wages during the first two weeks of quarantine, and any other costs during quarantine. Another program assisted with the costs of modifying or adding to housing due to COVID-19 sanitation and spacing requirements. These are not yet in place for 2021, but your agriculture organizations are working hard for renewal of these programs.
Tip #5. Watch for news from your agriculture organizations about any funding announcements for COVID-19 assistance.
A huge benefit to BC producers is the provincially managed 14-day quarantine facilities in Richmond. This added a level of control and safety that helped prevent COVID-19 outbreaks from newly arrived workers and added a level of certainty that farm workers were being kept as safe as possible. The program continues for 2021. TFW vaccination is prioritized.
There are also Canadian workers on BC farms. If these workers stay in tent camps or cabins, a COVID-19 inspection of the accommodation area is required before occupancy. In 2020 there was also an assistance program for providing sanitary and spacing requirements for campsites, although uptake was very poor.
With a larger cherry crop expected this year, more workers will be required. Foreign worker numbers will need to increase by 30 per cent from last year just to keep up with old levels of production, let alone increased production due to maturing trees and increased acreage. There is an indication of renewed interest from Quebec youth in coming to work on Okanagan farms in the summer of 2021, following a drop in numbers last year. Will the number of Quebec workers recover to previous levels? Unfortunately, we will not know until it is too late to adjust. Last year’s appeals to local unemployed people to come work on the farm did not result in any measurable increase in the number of workers.
Farm success depends on having adequate labour, and the most assured labour is the SAWP and TFW programs, though with COVID-19, even the TFW arrivals have some level of uncertainty.
Tip #6. Plan ahead and seek an assured supply of TFWs. If your farm is small, partner with a larger farm to transfer workers to your farm, and follow-up with an LMIA application to the SAWP program.
Housing remains a huge hurdle for participating in the SAWP and TFW program. In addition to the Worker Campsite regulations of the Ministry of Health (as implemented by WALI), there are additional worker housing regulations being considered by Service Canada. Fortunately, these will not be in force until 2022 at the earliest. Agricultural organizations are asking that any new regulations be reasonable and ‘outcomes based’, rather than prescriptive and arbitrary. Prior to COVID-19, regional governments and the Agricultural Land Commission piled on new bylaws and regulations to existing permitting requirements, making it a lengthy process to construct or install new housing for a growing worker population.
Tip #7. Begin working on regional government housing approvals at least two years in advance of the arrival, expanding or starting on the SAWP or TFW Program.
Throughout this article, we have noted the involvement of WALI, and their staff are owed a debt of gratitude for keeping the arrivals as smooth as possible under the circumstances of cancelled commercial flights and new COVID-19 travel requirements. The BCFGA has assisted in managing the regional government work camps for domestic workers, and the Ministry of Agriculture provided important funding to establish new camps in Summerland and Creston, and funding COVID-19 improvements to the Seacrest Campsite in Oliver.
Grower associations at all levels have expended a huge effort in keeping the TFW rules and regulations as reasonable as possible, while seeking to provide the information and tools that growers need to plan their labour force for the coming season. As difficult as the labour situation is, it would be much much worse without the attention, support and resources of the many agricultural organizations, including:
- BC Agriculture Council Labour Committee
- Western Agricultural Labour Initiative
- Jamaican and other Caribbean Liaison Service
- Canadian Horticultural Council
- Canadian Federation of Agriculture
- AgSafeBC
Your membership in a commodity association, such as the BC Fruit Growers’ Association, provides resources for this important work to maintain the agricultural labour force.
Tip #8 Support your commodity association by being a member!
Glen Lucas, BCFGA