... Free Trade agreements and corporate buyouts have taken a heavy toll on the fruit and vegetable processing industry in Ontario. Not only can Heinz now sell all the ketchup Canadians can consume with just a few days production at one of its large US plants, but the private purchase of the H. J. Heinz Company by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital was a precursor to a war on costs at the expense of long term sustainability and community partnership. This loss will have a huge ripple effect on the local economy, on the workers who are losing their jobs and on the more than 45 farmers who are losing a long-time, reliable buyer – farmers who are left wondering what will happen to their production contracts for next year. Fruit and vegetable processing plant closures are not new to Ontario. In 2008, the Niagara Region saw closures affecting 3,500 acres of fruit-producing land. That same year the federal government invested more than $22 million to assist farmers as they transitioned to growing other, more profitable crops.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 22:29:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015