Cloe Logan, Local Journalism Initiative
Greenhouse growers are bracing for an uncertain season if their workers can t enter Canada because of new COVID-19 testing rules for travellers.
Image Credit: PEXELS/João Jesus January 11, 2021 - 7:00 PM New COVID-19 testing requirements for travellers entering Canada could hinder more than would-be pandemic tourists. They could also leave tomato, pepper, and other greenhouse vegetable farmers in B.C. scrambling for workers. Temporary foreign workers, most of them from Mexico, are essential to B.C. s $300-million greenhouse vegetable industry, with about 500 usually coming to work in the sector each year. Last week, strict new rules that require international travellers entering Canada to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken in the last 72 hours came into effect, leaving dozens of B.C.-bound agricultural workers stranded in Mexico.