IROQUOIS — Smyth’s Apple Orchard has been relying on foreign workers from the Caribbean for close to 40 years to get their apples off the trees and into stores. But as owner Sandra Beckstead explains, it is not as as easy to get workers as one might think. "We pay to fly them over, pay for their work Visa, lodgings, appliances and salary. We dish out about $1,200 per worker before they even pick an apple. What does the government gives us in return? Nothing."

These are not the only expenses. The owners of Smyth’s Apple Orchard, in the village of Dundela and home of the first McIntosh apple, also make payments to the Canadian Pension Plan, unemployment insurance, income tax and pay for regular health inspections of their facilities. While it seems like a lot of trouble to bring these workers to this eastern Ontario apple farm between Winchester and Iroquois, Beckstead says that they are great at what they do. "If it were not for them we would not get our product off the trees. These workers really want to make money to send home to their families and they do a great job."

Smyth’s Apple Orchard has 14 workers that they hired from Jamaica. They pay each worker $8.58 an hour as outlined in the Foreign Agriculture Resource Management Service program that they participate in.

Each year about 18,000 people, mostly men, come to Canada from the Caribbean and Mexico to work on farms, mostly picking fruits and vegetables. The problem that Beckstead sees is that their company is not receiving the needed support from the government. "The government gives grants to large companies. When we go to apply we are told there is no more money. In addition, the government begins to bring in foreign products before the Ontario growing season is done."

The other problem for Symth’s Apple Orchard is that they need foreign workers because they cannot find local people who want to work. "We go through close to 100 workers who last one day to a week. We pay them and never see them again. We do have workers that have been with us for years but it is not enough during harvest time."

The Jamaican workers have a great experience and are able to send money and items home to their families, she said. In the past workers would send appliances, bicycles and televisions but, because of recent changes to airline security, Beckstead has found that most just send back money.

"As soon as agriculture starts in Ontario, you see an increase in foreign workers," says Beckstead. Beckstead feels the process has gotten easier. She can now make most arrangements by phone as opposed to doing everything in person at a work placement office. However, she still feels that the program has much room for improvement and that the government could do more to support the small farmers.

There are five companies including Smyth’s in their area, south of Ottawa, that hired foreign workers this year, she said.