About Us

Who are the organizations behind this website?

About Us

This website is supported by a group of Ontario agricultural organizations who are working together to thank and support the valuable workers who come here each year to help grow the local food that Ontarians enjoy and value so much.

As farmers, we know first-hand how vital seasonal workers are to our sector, the skills they bring to our operations, and what they’re able to accomplish for their families and communities in their home countries by coming here to work.

Through the media and other channels, these people have come to be known as migrant workers - but as you’ll discover on this site, there is so much more to their story than just the work that they do or the label they’ve been given.

We’ll be honest: we know there are incidents where workers aren’t being treated properly or are subject to unacceptable living or working conditions. What we want you to know is that farmers in no way condone those situations and that they don’t reflect the circumstances of the vast majority of workers in our sector, many of whom have been coming to our farms for decades.

Migrant workers who come to Ontario legally to work on fruit and vegetable farms do so under the umbrella of one of two government programs: the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program.

Workers under those programs have the same rights and privileges as Canadian workers do, and their employers have the same obligations and responsibilities to those workers as they do for their Canadian employees. Anything else is unacceptable and not supported by our sector.

Through this site, we are sharing the stories of some of the many men and women who help us grow your food and we hope to answer the questions you may have about seasonal workers in the fruit and vegetable industry.

Sincerely,