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Rebecca Compton, who runs Dalton White Farms, in the southwestern Ontario township of Delhi, said the cutting process is a lot like bailing water out of a canoe with a hole in it: “If you don’t keep going, you’re going down,” she said.

Photo by Juan Medina/Reuters

To keep pace, cutters drive up and down fields in an asparagus rider — which looks like a go-kart with long benches attached to either side, like wings. The cutters sit spread out along the wings, hovering above the field as the rows of asparagus pass under their feet, making split-second decisions on whether or not to cut based on a spear’s tip, thickness and length.

“You need to have good cutters,” said Compton, whose employees from abroad have an average of 10 years’ experience. “You have essentially a steak knife and you just cut the spears one at a time. People always question why asparagus is so expensive. And that’s why, because it is an incredibly labour-intensive crop.”

A good cutter makes it easier for the graders and packers, who separate the spears into first-grade, second-grade, jumbos, slims, shorts and garbage spears with damaged tips or improperly trimmed butts. Sending in spears that are too short or too damaged slows the process down.

We have six weeks to make our living. To base that on people who have never done it before is very frightening

“To train one or two men in every year, that’s not a big deal,” Compton said. “But to train an entire crew, that’s a completely different task.”

Compton has only been able to bring 15 of her 45 usual labourers into Canada this year for the harvest, since local public health rules only allow her to quarantine three workers in the same bunkhouse, and she only has six bunkhouses.

With less than half the usual workforce, she said she is only planning to harvest half of her 80 acres of asparagus, at the most. The alternative would be to bring in more than 20 new employees, which she said would be the equivalent of teaching 20 new people how to drive all at once, in a matter of days, and basing your entire year’s earnings on how they perform.

“We have six weeks to make our living,” Compton said. “To base that on people who have never done it before is very frightening.”

Financial Post

• Email: jedmiston@nationalpost.com | Twitter: jakeedmiston