9 months to the day they've announced that they will be closing the Leamington, Ontario plant. This decision will result in the layoff of 740 employees over the next 6 - 8 months as operations wind down. The Heinz factory has been an icon of the community since it's inception in 1909 and gave Leamington the handle 'Tomato Capital of Canada'. With a population of 28,000 this is a serious blow to all residents in the area. Municipal coffers will be seriously affected with the tax income on all sides being lost. Will the landmark building now become an eyesore?
Ontario farmers will be hard hit as they try to find an alternative market for their product. With many Leamington area farmers recently expanding their hot house operations will they be able to secure purchase agreements in a timely and fiscal fashion? One can only hope.
They expect to wind down all operations by mid 2014 and have also announced plant closures in South Carolina and Idaho affecting another 610 jobs bringing the total job loss to 1,350. These jobs and products will likely find their way into Brazil via the 3G Capital Group connection. Brazil is already ranked 9th (2010) in the world for Tomato production at 3,867,655 tonnes. Canada is ranked 24th (2010) with 770,059 tonnes.
With low cost labour and land, Brazil is once again flexing it's muscle as a growing agricultural power house. In 2008 Brazil became the worlds top consumer of agricultural pesticides. With less stringent controls on pesticide application use and non-Canadian approved chemicals being used one can only wonder if the 'Ketchup' will taste a little different next year.
With the February 2011 closure of the Bick's (JM Smucker) Pickle plants in Delhi and Dunnville the hits just keep coming for area farmers. The high price of input costs make it impossible for local farmers to compete on a global market. India is a major supplier of pickles in the world and can export their product including shipping cheaper than what local farmers can produce them for. India has had its deadliest food poisoning outbreak just this past summer, causing the death of 23 children from eating meals that were pesticide laced while at school.
The former brine tank farm has been recently put up for resale from a group that had hoped to create a bio-gas facility. This project did not come to fruition based on local opposition to the proposal.
With the shared dump for Haldimand-Norfolk reaching capacity in 3 short years has Council been looking at options for garbage disposal?
Are Canadian consumers interested in saving a few bucks for cheap food but risking their lives over it?
It will be hard to decide if they are the only products available to you.
Will the Corporations of the United States continue to purchase good Canadian companies, only to shut them down and move the work back home? Even with the Ontario Government financially backing some purchases it has not helped with the shuttering of so many plants. Southern Ontario is being systematically picked apart and sold off.
How will these shutdowns affect the already burgeoning Provincial and Municipal Government debt levels?
They will expect more from you of course. We're in a pickle and getting pasted at the same time.
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