Labour shortage has affected Norfolk County asparagus harvest
Farmers in Norfolk County, where most Canadian asparagus comes from, say a labour shortage caused by the COVID-19 will force them to leave as much as half their crop in the ground. Norfolk normally brings in 4,500 foreign workers to harvest and plant crops. After the federal government initially barred them from entering the country during the pandemic, workers contracted through the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program have now started to land in Norfolk and gone into mandatory self-isolation for two weeks. Most seasonal foreign workers come from Central American regions and the Caribbean. The government announced earlier that it had taken additional measures to speed up the process of bringing in overseas workers, including expediting the visa approval process and arranging chartered flights through diplomatic channels. In April, 11,000 foreign workers arrived in Canada, which is only 86% of the number of foreign workers who came to Canada in April last year.
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