Dusty Zamecnik is a 27-year-old horticultural farmer in the lush farmland of Norfolk County, Ontario, which is situated close to Lake Erie\u2019s north shore. Now production manager at his family\u2019s EZ Grow Farms, Zamecnik returned to farming in 2014 after getting a business degree from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and spending a bit of time working in brand development and sales for Labatt Brewing Company in London, Ontario.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be a driving force for the community where I grew up, and that\u2019s part of the reason why I came back,\u201d says Zamecnik, who grows strawberry plants for propagation, as well as highbush blueberries and hops. \u201cIt was good to be back on the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zamecnik has been busy since his return. In May 2017, he purchased his own 75-acre spread as part of EZ Grow Farms, and he\u2019s also started up a craft brewery called Hometown Brewing Co., which uses hops and blueberries grown on his land.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy entrepreneurship, and I enjoy building something that I can call my own,\u201d notes Zamecnik.<\/p>\n
Hometown Brewing Co.\u2019s latest product, a blueberry saison beer, is now available in Ontario liquor stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is really putting our brewery on the map, in terms of just what you can do with beer. It\u2019s gorgeous,\u201d says Zamecnik.<\/p>\n
Zemecnik\u2019s innovative efforts are getting noticed. This past October, he won the title of Ontario\u2019s Most Outstanding Farmer for 2017. He travelled to British Columbia a month later to vie for the crown as Canada\u2019s Most Outstanding Farmer with six other nominees. The national award ended up going to a young farming couple in Saskatchewan and another in Quebec (whom you can read more about on page 31).<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t come home with the hardware,\u201d says Zamecnik, \u201cbut it was a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zamecnik is among eight full-time staff at EZ Grow Farms, which, like most fruit and vegetable operations in southern Ontario, relies heavily on seasonal workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re jumping up to 30 people by March 15. By July 1, it will be nearly 80 people, and then by October 1, we\u2019ll be at about 130 people,\u201d observes Zamecnik.<\/p>\n Rudolph Campbell of Jamaica is among the dozens of foreign workers\u00a0employed each year by EZ Grow Farms. Photo credit: EZ Grow Farms.\n
He acknowledges it can be tough finding local people to work in horticulture jobs that are typically minimum wage, can be physically demanding, and often require long days. For locals, even though there\u2019s money to be made, \u201cthey just don\u2019t find it lucrative,\u201d says Zamecnik.<\/p>\n
For this reason, the majority of seasonal workers at EZ Grow Farms come from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico. Zamecnik states that a few of their international farm workers have been returning for over 15 years and are very integrated into the farm, often choosing to stay the maximum term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese men spend more time up here in Canada than they do at home,\u201d indicates Zamecnik. \u201cThey\u2019re like part of our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour is so important in horticultural production because without an adequate workforce to grow and harvest produce, it can rot in the field, on the tree, or on the vine, resulting in food waste and financial loss for growers.<\/p>\n
When Canadian producers are unable to find enough workers domestically first, they can access federal government initiatives like the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to fill their labour needs. Under its labour advocacy mandate, the Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC) works with various government agencies to help ensure the smooth delivery of these programs to the farm industry.<\/p>\n
Zamecnik notes that EZ Grow Farms relies on both the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and on an Ontario organization called the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Service (FARMS) to help them find workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot really commend the Canadian Horticultural Council enough for the work that they do. It\u2019s amazing,\u201d he says. \u201cI think it would be great if they could really help spotlight what\u2019s happening at the farm level, because without these programs you better believe that food is going to be four times the price.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dusty Zamecnik is a 27-year-old horticultural farmer in the lush farmland of Norfolk County, Ontario, which is situated close to Lake Erie\u2019s north shore. Now production manager at his family\u2019s EZ Grow Farms, Zamecnik returned to farming in 2014 after getting a business degree from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and spending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[72,73],"class_list":["post-24962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","tag-fresh-thinking","tag-legacy"],"yoast_head":"\n