Canada: Hotchkiss closes greenhouse due to high minimum wage and heating costs
He said his margins are pennies, not dollars, adding his business can’t stay profitable when facing higher heating and wage costs. The increases are anticipated as a result of Bill 6 and its overtime and workers compensation for farm employees, rising minimum wage and the carbon tax coming in the New Year.
Hotchkiss Herbs and Produce was supplying most of Alberta’s fanciest restaurants, markets and grocers with heirloom tomatoes, carrots, beans, chard, potatoes, microgreens and pea shoots.
The company recently bought half-a-million dollars in equipment, with a plan to expand.
Now, Paul is struggling with ripping out the beautiful heirloom tomatoes he painstakingly cross-bred over his entire career.
“There’s a lot of work here,” he said, fighting back tears. “It’s gone.”
The greenhouses will be dismantled this spring, but the couple will keep growing some hay on their land. They hope to start over in a different country.
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