Farmers in southwestern Ontario lament high hydro rates, increased labour costs
CHATHAM-KENT, Ont. — Jeff VanRoboys laments the Ontario government’s one-two punch that he says is hurting his cucumber harvesting business.
The 40-year-old farmer and entrepreneur says his company — The Pickle Station, located about 300 kilometres west of Toronto — has been hit hard by sky-high hydro rates and a recent increase in minimum wage.
“Those are my two biggest expenses to run the business and those are both government-controlled increases,” he says from his sprawling processing plant in Chatham-Kent.
The sorting lines and large harvesters at the plant sit idle on a warm spring day, with VanRoboys apologizing that things are so quiet. The time to see the operation firing on all cylinders, he says, is in the summer. That’s when the lines are fully staffed and the plant is buzzing. It’s also when high energy and labour costs hit the business the hardest.