Farm life was good for John and Claudia Jaques before the implementation of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 1989. Their sandy soil was perfect for growing asparagus and by 1992, their farm, Sunshine Farms of Thamesville, Ont. had become the largest grower in Canada. While the older open pollinated varieties they grew at the time only yielded between 2000 to 2500 pounds per acre, and total production was just 400,000 pounds, it was enough to provide a good living. Three years after the implementation of the FTA processors began leaving the country and the writing was on the wall for the Jaques business model.

 

The FTA had a tremendous impact on Canadian fruit and vegetable growers. An open trading environment has meant going from serving a domestic-oriented market to competing with countries with longer growing seasons and greater availability of cheap labour. The new so-called even playing field created by globalisation, would forever change farmer’s lives.

 

Before its implementation there were twelve companies processing asparagus in Canada, for the canned and frozen markets. All of the Jaques’ crop was spoken for ahead of time; fair prices were negotiated and guaranteed by contact early in the new year.

 

“The last day of harvest, 99% of my work was done for the year, other than doing a little maintenance on the field, watching it for insects and disease,” Jaques explains. There was time to enjoy their swimming pool and a keg of beer. He had the winter off. “Life was good. It was almost too easy.”

 

Finding a profit became harder and harder. Sunshine farms successfully dehydrated asparagus but realised it would take considerable development to bring the product to a marketable stage. The company also tried packing frozen asparagus, working with processors as an on-farm operation but couldn’t compete with China or the canned asparagus imports from Peru. They weren’t the only vegetable growers in that situation; from 1991 to 1999, the entire industry showed very little growth.

 

Jaques boosted production by switching to high-density plantings. They turned to hybrid plants that yield 5000 to 6000 pounds an acre instead of the 2000 pounds that they used to get. Even with the much higher yield Jaques says it’s still questionable whether it’s a profitable venture to grow asparagus and sell it on the fresh market.

 

“In Ontario we’re getting a double whammy of facing a strong dollar and also having wages go up dramatically,” he adds. “Over the next two years, we’re looking at a 27% increase in labour costs.Half our costs are labour and customers keep wanting to pay less for product.” It’s a no-win situation Jaques says unless they add value to their product.

Pickled asparagus. During one of their travels, the couple stumbled upon a new delicacy in a food store: pickled asparagus. An artisan producer was producing the tasty product on a small scale. The Jaques liked the idea and started experimenting with various recipes. The tremendous success they had in a Vancouver food show tasting led to sales in chain stores across western Canada. Consumer driven demand for the product has led to expanding the line to include 12 certified organic products including zesty pickled asparagus with jalapenos and dilly beans. While sales are brisk out west, Jaques says acceptance of new innovative healthy products isn’t as easy in eastern Canada. 

“There’s a very intense learning curve to marketing your product.” Jaques says. He’s needed to trade in his farmer’s hat and become a food processor. The job now keeps him busy year round. He figures he’s spent well over a million dollars on marketing alone in the past ten years. “Supplying samples and attending trade shows is expensive; especially when you find things out, after the fact, that products we thought would be big hits ended up at the food bank.”

 

“Combining farming with processing has increased the overall profitability of the farm,” says Jaques. “We created a new profit center but it’s a heck of a lot of work.” Approximately 70% of Sunshine Farms’ production is processed right away, into 180,000 jars of pickled asparagus every year. So fresh, you can taste the sunshine in them. The rest goes into the Ontario fresh asparagus market.