Orchardists will be scrambling to fill farmhand positions generally occupied by temporary foreign workers and out of province backpackers this season. 

In a newsletter sent out on March 30, the BC Fruit Growers Association cautions it will be “challenging” to fill the roughly 4,500 labour positions occupied by foreign workers this season.

Farmers are expecting far fewer Mexican and the Caribbean workers, along with the large segment of Quebecois known to travel west for summer farm work, to be available.

Photo Credit: NowMedia.

With over 500,000 Canadians applying for employment insurance last week alone, BCFGA is encouraging locals to consider orchard jobs for the summer.

"Local workers may increasingly be an option this year, if agriculture can convince any capable, unemployed workers to work on the farm,” said the BCFGA.

While foreigners in the Seasonal Agriculture Workers Program (SAWP) are permitted to enter Canada despite the current travel ban, they are required to undergo 14 days of self-isolation upon arriving before they can work.

It's believed the COVID-19 outbreak at Bylands Nurseries in West Kelowna is linked to a group of foreign workers that entered Canada on March 12 before isolation recommendations were made by the federal government.