Sunny Brar surveys the blueberries on his family-owned farm in Langley, B.C. on July 13.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
Sunny Brar has a 50,000-pound order of blueberries in his frozen storage, waiting for export to Poland.
The berries were picked at Highland Fruit, Mr. Brar’s family-owned farm in Langley, B.C. Keeping a pound of berries frozen costs 2 cents per month, he said. They also take up valuable space, which the farm needs now that it is harvest season. Mr. Brar said he currently has one million pounds of blueberries in cold storage.
But because of the strike by B.C. port workers, Mr. Brar has been unable to ship his berries. The strike of 7,400 unionized workers shut down exports for 13 days, although it was resolved on Thursday. Mr. Brar said he had one week until his Polish buyer would pull out and move to other markets, such as the U.S. or Peru. That would have cost him $45,000 in immediate sales and $200,000 in follow-up sales, he said, a sizable loss for a business that started only three years ago.
Blueberry farmer Sunny Brar has over a million pounds of berries in cold storage at Highland Fruit Packers in Abbotsford, B.C.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
The strike may now be over, but for Mr. Brar and other farmers, the situation proved too close for comfort. They argue that Canada’s failure to categorize food products as essential – and therefore exempt from supply-chain issues arising from strikes such as this one – not only undermines a $143.8-billion agricultural industry, but poses a threat to food security.
The Port of Vancouver handles 3,500 tonnes of ready-to-consume food on a daily basis, said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. The strike therefore delayed the inbound and outbound movement over 12 days of 42,000 tonnes of product.
One such product was pork, which ships the majority of its Asian exports through Vancouver. The pork industry, valued at $23.8-billion, exports 60 to 70 per cent of its product. The major market for Canadian pork is the U.S., followed by Asia. Many exports to Asia are unfrozen, product that fetches a higher price but cannot wait in supply chains.
The pork industry is calling on the federal government to grant it essential-service status, said René Roy, chair of the Canadian Pork Council. “Considering that food is important and scarce, and resources are scarce, we shouldn’t accept as a society to see perishable goods lost,” he said.
Mr. Roy wants Ottawa to give perishable agriculture the same protection as grain. The Canadian Labour Code specifies that longshore workers must continue to serve bulk grain vessels during strikes. Mr. Roy’s call is echoed by the agricultural industry as a whole.
“I would like to believe we are essential,” said Keith Currie, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which represents 190,000 farmers and ranchers across Canada. He is concerned that delays from strikes have the potential to boost prices, because of limited trade and delays in imports of machinery and crop-protection products essential to production.
“How do we improve this to make sure that the products keep flowing?” said Mr. Currie.
According to Mr. Currie, grain is given a priority because of its sheer volume – and the scale of the problem should shipments be delayed. Prof. Charlebois agrees, noting the Port of Vancouver handles 20 million tonnes of grain each year. This makes delays in grain shipments a global food-security issue, but it also gives the industry more power.
“It’s a lobby thing” said Prof. Charlebois. “It’s an influential thing. Within supply chains, some groups have more power than others.”
He said, however, that it is not an excuse to leave other products unprotected. Delays in shipments are not only bad for business, they also negatively affect the quality of the product, damaging relationships with customers.
“If it’s food, the supply chain needs to be protected, regardless,” said Prof. Charlebois. “Inbound and outbound. All foods.”
Back in Abbotsford at Highland Fruit Packers, Mr. Brar said he is grateful that the strike is over, but he’s nervous about what this means for the industry’s status internationally. He said he hopes the government will learn from this close call.
“This is our trade” said Mr. Brar, referring to the agricultural sector. “Our exports, whatever is going out, that should be essential.”