Buying local supports local farms and families

(NC) Summer and fall in Ontario mean harvest season for fresh fruits and vegetables. From peaches, grapes and apples to pumpkins, corn, squash, potatoes and more, it’s the best time of year to buy and enjoy produce that’s grown close to home.

When you buy local, you’re not just making healthy eating choices, you’re also supporting farms and food businesses in your community. And with 97 per cent of Canada’s farms still family-owned and run, it means you’re also supporting families.

On many fruit and vegetable farms, several generations of the same family work together – and more often than not, that family also extends to include seasonal and international farm workers.

Of the approximately 17,000 annual participants in the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, many workers have been coming to the same Ontario farms for years, where their experience and skills make them valued members of the farming business.

Jamaican Vincent (Tony) Howard has had a seasonal job at the same southern Ontario vegetable farm for more than 40 years. It’s a job that not only lets him provide for his wife and three sons, and build a home, but also means family.

“Here I work with good people, I keep coming back year after year and I always look forward to being with them. They are like my family away from home, and everyone takes care of each other,” he explains.

Fellow Jamaican Delroy Martin first came to Canada over 30 years ago as a seasonal worker and has spent his entire career at Nighthawk Orchards in the Georgian Bay area.

“I will receive my (Canadian) pension a couple of years down the line, which is great,” he says. “When I finish working here, I will always hold my head high and say I was proud to work in Canada.”

That feeling of family and friendship holds true for many farmers too. Josh Taminga of TamBerry Farms grew up with seasonal workers on his family’s farm, developing long-standing relationships with many of them.

“I grew up in the greenhouse, so the people you work with become your friends,” he says. “You see them at church on Sundays; some came to my wedding.”

It’s a sentiment shared by apple grower Greg Ardiel, who grew up alongside the seasonal workers in his family’s Georgian Bay-area orchard.

“I have many fond memories of growing up with these men on the farm. I have even more fond memories of getting to work with them while getting to know them better,” he says. “The workers are an absolutely fantastic group of guys who are happy to be here. They treat the farm like it’s their own.”

Attention Editors: This content is reserved for distribution in Ontario only.