In an interview, a farm worker from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as part of the OECS Farm Workers programme has told us that \u201cthings are rough at the moment but I wasn\u2019t expecting a bed of roses\u201d.<\/p>\n
He confirmed that the issues such as poor accommodation, sanitation, discrimination and general poor working environment have been normalised across most the farms.<\/p>\n
This is his 4th time travelling to Canada to take part in the seasonal programme. This has not broken the young male in his twenties who reached out to us. He says that he will continue to go back once given the opportunity.<\/p>\n
However, with COVID-19 having an impact on global demand for some of the farm fresh produce, supply chains have been disrupted making it difficult for produce to be sold.<\/p>\n
He said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey keep returning the [fruit name not stated so as not to identify the farm] so the barn is packed, no need to pick more\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not worked for over a week now and hoping that something happens so I can continue work to make the money to go back home later this year\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am [kinda] stressing about that as I still have to buy my little groceries and look after myself\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually enjoy farming, that\u2019s why I come every year. I could make good money here even though they treat you like less than because of your skin colour\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it\u2019s just for six months so I bear with it\u201d. (BFN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In an interview, a farm worker from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as part of the OECS Farm Workers programme has told us that \u201cthings are rough at the moment but I wasn\u2019t expecting a bed of roses\u201d. He confirmed that the issues such as poor accommodation, sanitation, discrimination and general poor working environment have<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":13863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-mainstory"],"yoast_head":"\n