LENNOX FARM

The French Family are farmers in Ontario, Canada. Farming has been in their family for over 100 years and their knowledge about food, crops and farming is sought after by other farmers in the area. During early portions of the planting season they usually had migrant workers to help them, families from Trinidad and Tobago that have been helping their family successfully farm in Ontario for three generations. But Trinidad and Tobago had locked its borders due to COVID-19 concerns. This meant Brian and Jeannette and their three children spent everyday planting what they could on their own, aware that a shortfall looms not only for them but for most farmers in the region.  By June 2020, 6 of their usual 12 migrant workers arrived in Canada, but the damage from the early season shortfall in crops and production was done and the French Family operated at a deficit for the rest of the season. Time will tell how these challenges will affect their farm, the migrant workers, and Ontario’s farming community as a whole.