The story behind the Ontario Grown sticker

A lot of Londoners look for the Ontario Grown sticker before buying hothouse tomatoes. Why? Because Leamington, the Tomato Capital of Canada is but an hour southwest of London.

But those Londoners must look carefully before putting down their money. Some Canadian greenhouse growers have expanded into Mexico, Spain and the United States. The name of a local grower with a Southwest Ontario address is no longer enough. It must say Ontario Grown.

And, if one thinks buying Canadian means putting Canadians to work, think again. Often it is migrant workers from Mexico picking the Canadian crop.

The Mexican workers are so numerous that a satellite image of the Leamington farm country shows a clearly labeled Mexican Consulate, surrounded by greenhouses, right on the edge of town.

The CBC, the government owned and operated Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, looked into the migrant worker situation in the hothouse industry. I have linked to the posted story:

Mexican workers say they are victims of abuse on Canadian farms. 

Chris Ramsaroop, organizer of Justicia for Migrant Workers, was correct when he told CBC News that Canadians are not sufficiently aware that the Ontario fruits and vegetables they eat are often harvested by workers who come from thousands of kilometres away.

And if you thought greenhouse grown means few if any pesticides are used, you're wrong again. Apparently, pesticides are applied in many greenhouses two or three times a week. Three of the migrant workers interviewed by CBC News reported they are forced to handle vegetables covered with chemicals without being given protective equipment like those workers spraying the pesticides.

Now that I've read the CBC News report, I will not be shunning Mexican grown produce in the future as I have in the past.