With the advent of greenhouses in Chatham-Kent, the growing season is longer than ever, and the need for seasonal workers continues to grow. 
Ken Forth, President of the Foreign Agricultural Resources Management Services says areas like Chatham-Kent need to be prepared to grow more, especially after recent natural disasters in the south.
“You just have to look on the news today and wonder what’s going to happen to that food supply out of Florida, out of South Texas,” Forth says. “These storms are getting worse, and cannot rely on other countries to feed us. We have a choice, we bring temporary workers in to work on our farms in the summer moths, or we import (food) from somewhere else.”
Forth says the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program has been in place for 50 years to bring workers to Canada in times of labour shortage.