| SvennoJ said: Major setback while Ontario numbers are climbing again It’s asparagus harvest season, but some of the fields in Norfolk County, Ontario, are all but empty following an outbreak of COVID-19 that has spread to 164 migrant workers from Mexico, temporarily halting production. Last Thursday, a worker at Scotlynn Group complained of symptoms; just days later, more than half of the 216 migrant workers tested positive. Seven are hospitalized, including two in intensive care. Health officials have already started contact tracing while more still awaited results. Only 33 are able to work in the field. Biddle relies on the migrant workers to produce millions of pounds of asparagus and sweet corn. To ensure his asparagus crop is harvested this year, he put out a call for local help on Facebook, offering $25 an hour. He said 150 locals were confirmed to help, but with a pay hike that’s nearly double what the migrant workers make, advocates like MWAC’s Aviles are not happy, noting that they have been working in these conditions for decades. “There’s a lot of anger right now,” she said. Adding to the concern is the uncertainty around compensation for the workers while they are sick. "They have passed quarantine, and now they are sick with the virus. They don't know what is going to happen with them, and in the meantime who is going to feed their families?" |
Heard this the other day and wasn't all that surprised. Scotlynn is a massive farming and trucking operation here. With the many truckers coming in and out of the operation, it's totally possible it got spread to the migrant workers unknowingly. Plus typically, these workers are bused into town once a week for an evening so they can get supplies they need like food for the next week.
Many of the smaller farms here didn't bother bringing in help for this very reason. Too risky due to Covid 19 and too expensive for 'locals', especially considering it tends to take 2 locals to cover 1 migrant workers productivity. Scotlynn have giant contracts with big food corps they have to fulfill, so they will do what they have to, to meet those obligations, even if they have to take the financial hit this year.
Many of the vegetable fields are empty or being disked down. There's Gov bailout programs that a bunch of farmers are taking advantage of which will ease the pain somewhat, but if farming wasn't tough enough now, it's really going to take a big hit this year for some.
Norfolk isn't very dense at all, even in the towns, so we'll see what happens in terms of it spreading.
Last edited by EricHiggin - on 02 June 2020
