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Lettuce, asparagus and other fruit and vegetable producers are planning to quarantine thousands of seasonal workers on farms throughout Canada as Ottawa attempts to safeguard domestic food production while also containing the rapid spread of COVID-19.

TheDepartment of Agriculture is rushing to establish protocols for how farmers will safely transport workers from airports and carry out mandatory 14-day quarantines.

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The federal government is also entering in talks with foreign governments, including Guatemala, that have shut their own borders to slow the rate of coronavirus infections.

“We are working with our health department federally, and with the provinces on the rules … but I can tell you that it will be the responsibility of the employers to make sure that they comply,” Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau said during a call with reporters Monday. “Otherwise, they could lose their privilege to have new foreign temporary workers in the coming year. So, this is definitely something that they won’t play with.”