Shutting down Canada’s border to non-residents could have calamitous consequences for both food production in Ontario and the well-being of thousands of workers who rely on an eight-month temporary job here.

“It’s devastating,” said large-scale farmer Dusty Zamecnik of EZ Grow Farms in Langton.

“Right now farmers are planting in greenhouses and there’s a lot of crop maintenance for perennials and then late April to early May the plants have to go in the ground for vegetables.”

To do that work, local farmers rely on thousands of migrant workers, mainly from Mexico and the Caribbean, because despite every effort, they can’t find enough Canadians willing to sign on for the work.

However, those workers will be barred from crossing into Canada as of midnight Tuesday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau closed the border due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Zamecnik said farmers are desperate to work with health units and the government to agree to whatever restrictions are necessary that will allow the workers to reach Ontario.

“We can deem them as vital for trade and economy – vital for us to keep eating. We will do a 100 percent quarantine on our farms. Please let them in.”

A final plane of workers from the Caribbean arrives around 11 p.m. Tuesday before the border is closed and Zamecnik expects six workers will arrive at his farm. But as the province’s largest blueberry grower, he normally hires 50 workers with 17 of them just working on blueberry pruning for a month.

As a long-time farmer, Zamecnik also knows how critical a Canadian farm job is to the workers in the program.

“This program is functional foreign aid. Every dollar they earn here is multiplied seven to 12 times in their own countries.”

As well, the approximately 50,000 workers spread across Canada spend a large amount of their funds here, giving local economies a huge jolt.

Haldimand Norfolk MP Diane Finley has long recognized the large role her area plays in providing food for Ontario and beyond.

“This is a terribly serious situation for our area and for the whole country,” Finley said Tuesday.

The MP said she and other colleagues are lobbying the ministers involved in the decision-making on a daily basis, trying to encourage them to create a custom plan for getting the workers to farms.

“We know it’s a tricky balance to protect our community, protect the workers but make sure the plants get in the ground. The government says food supply is essential but there’s been no action yet.”

Finley said the pandemic requires some creative thinking and solutions to deal with legal issues, such as the fact that workers in the farm program are required by law to be given a trip into town each week where they can shop for groceries and items they’ll take home – as well as enjoy entertainment – a rule that would break quarantines.

“That’s one of the areas where we would have to get innovative.”

Finley agreed with Zamecnik that expecting Canadian workers – even during a time of great layoffs – to do the jobs is unlikely to work.

“These farm programs have been around for 25 years because we could never get (Canadians) to do these jobs.”

Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, said he spoke with his federal agriculture counterpart, Marie-Claude Bibeau, on Tuesday emphasizing the need for workers as soon as possible.

“Obviously, bringing people across the border is a much bigger problem now than it was in the past but we need these workers to not only plant the crops but to nurture them as they grow and bring in the harvests,” Hardeman said.

Hardeman said Bibeau seemed to indicate that some sort of deal could be worked out but it would likely take several days to finalize it.

The MPP dismissed the idea that Canadians who are out of work due to the virus could fill in at the agricultural jobs.

“Hopefully those Canadians will soon be back at their jobs and this country ends up better and stronger for going through this.”

Norfolk Mayor Kristal Chopp was participating in a conference call with Ontario Minister of Health Christine Elliott and other government officials on Tuesday and hoped to raise the issue of migrant farm workers and the need to get an exemption for their entry.

“It’s important to flatten the curve but we also need to keep people fed. Those workers are vital.”

SGamble@postmedia.com

@EXPSGamble