APRIL 2023
CELEBRATING 144 YEARS AS CANADA’S PREMIER HORTICULTURAL PUBLICATION
THEGROWER.ORG
WEST SIDE WELCOME
Taking care of people is taking care of business
Jorge Osorio enjoys the driver’s seat as he transports his fellow compañeros to lunch after a March morning in the Windset Farms’ cucumber greenhouse near Delta, British Columbia. He is part of a 196-person contingent from Guatemala recruited under the AgStream program. Photo by Karen Davidson. KAREN DAVIDSON Compañero, the Spanish word for a male buddy or bro, is laden with more meaning than meets the eye when used between agricultural workers from Central America. It’s a bond forged though long hours of hard work in a foreign country, undertaken to support family and put food on their table. Such is the case for Jorge Osorio, one of 196 Guatemalans employed by Windset Farms. Since 2015, he’s been making the trek from Santa Rosa, Guatemala each year to work on Windset’s 68-acre greenhouse operation farm near Delta, British Columbia. Boasting a family back home with four young children, he is happy to give them educational opportunities he never had, including learning English. At Windset, Jorge has, in his own words, “found a place where I fit in, my skills have improved over the years
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BC fruit growers strive to compete PG 4
Fruit & Vegetable Growers of Canada PG 10
Volume 73 Number 04
P.M. 40012319
$3.00 CDN
Living conditions in Canada are excellent – I like the housing that Windset provides and how safe it is here.” ~ JORGE OSORIO
@growernews
and my superiors have noticed so more responsibilities have been given to me and I like the fact that now I have more ‘thinking’ tasks. I feel that they trust me.” Leaving behind very hard economic circumstances in Guatemala, he has improved his life dramatically at Windset, allowing him to become debt-free after his first two seasons. Osorio finds his living conditions at Windset to be comfortable, with all workers having equal access to all amenities. The safe living quarters at Windset inspired him to recreate a similar sense of security for his family in Guatemala, resulting in the construction of an 8-foot gated wall around the family home. In the past, Windset brought in all its workers from Mexico under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) but, says foreign worker/health & safety manager, Tony Pacheco, “the program’s restrictions didn’t work for us. Workers can only be here for eight months, and all workers must leave by December 15th.” Continued on page 3
Storage, packaging & containers PG 16