How Chloe and Lola reduce wage costs Golden Acre Farms

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is concerned with the Ontario government's decision to raise the minimum wage from $10.25 to $11.00 per hour. Although this increase can look like a positive change, it makes it very difficult for some Ontario farms to earn it back. The marketplace only supports the lowest cost producer so this would create more competition in the economy. Labour and energy are a farm's largest expense and both have to be continually checked for efficiency.

Louis Chibante, president of Golden Acre Farms Inc., says he has the solution: "We helped KOAT design, we knew what our issues were and together, we came up with a great decision as to what our needs are."

They've created a solution for labour packing: robot arms to unload cucumber crates (they can pack six cucumbers at a time) and also stack finished crates.

"They do about 18 at one time. You go from stacking 1 to 18, so it speeds everything up," says Chibante. "It changed the logistics too when the empty and full boxes would go and come out of the greenhouses. It creates a flow rather than impacting the up and down and reducing efficiency," he adds.

Chloe and Lola
"We named the robots separate in case they need servicing and we gave them names because it makes everything more direct," says Chibante. "My daughter named them Chloe and Lola after her dogs," he adds.

"Basically, one of our biggest expenses is packaging and our labour is going really high to be competitive with Mexico," says Chibante. "A lot of this labour is hard on the guys especially the heavy dumping and lifting. So, we reduce the hardest labour by the robotics," he adds.

Sorts and weighs
Everything is done through a computerized packing line that sorts and weighs each cucumber. "It's not hard to maintain since there are a lot of sensors. We make sure the machines are clean for the sensors and for food safety," says Chibante. "Anything that can go wrong, we know about it before it even happens due to manufacturing," adds Chibante.

More efficient
"The line is obviously more efficient and you could do so much more. Our line does 21 acres of cucumbers. If we didn't have the robotics, to keep up the same speed we would have about 30 people here," says Chibante. "The line has maybe reduced between five to six people," says Abe Klassen, warehouse manager of Golden Acre Farms.

Traceability
"The robots keep track of the food and create greater food safety. The traceability is huge," says Klassen. "We can go back and figure out when it was packed if there was ever a recall," he adds.

"For me, it wasn't hard to integrate to this new line since I'm a quick learner," says Klassen. "At first we started with a packing line then once we integrated to the automatic system I learned a lot more. The guys from Holland showed us how to do everything and we learned from the best," he adds.