The pending hike in minimum wage is already causing problems for a local farmer.
DVS Farms grows vegetables such as peas, sweet corn and Brussels sprouts for the processing industry and owner Dave van Segbrook says he will start mechanizing his operation and hiring fewer new employees down the road to reduce labour costs.
van Segbrook says the future is going to be challenging.
"We're going to have some real challenges. I have some very high labour costs in some of the vegetables, specifically the peppers and the Brussels sprouts. So, it's going to be a tough spot that we're going to have to mechanize and work our way through in order to adjust to the coming wages," says van Segbrook.
van Segbrook has 1600 acres, employs five full time people and up to 50 seasonal workers and ships banana peppers to North Carolina and Quebec and sugar beets to Michigan.
DVS Farms Ltd. has been recognized by the Wallaceburg and District Chamber of Commerce and Chatham-Kent Economic Development Services as a feature industry, which is only done twice a year.
van Segbrook says the farm has longterm customers and he hopes to keep it that way.
"The buyers in the States don't want to discuss any price increasing. So, it's going to be absorbed but if the minimum wage is going to be what they say it's going to be, then we're going to have to mechanize some parts of operation. Anyone that has a job here will continue to have a job but there may be less new hires as time goes by because of the mechanization," van Segbrook says.
van Segbrook says business is fine right now but it's been better.
"We had some really good years a few years back in the grain business and some of the specialty crops, sugar beets. Some of the prices have gone back down to probably long term averages now. The currency is what's keeping our prices where they are. Without the currency adjustment out of the U-S, we'd have some dire revenue issues here," says van Segbrook.