Almost a year has passed since the Municipality of Chatham-Kent promised to set up a working group to talk about higher development charges and no meetings have taken place with the local greenhouse sector.
Meetings with the greenhouse industry, local MPPs and MPs, and area utilities were promised in March 2024 when CK Council voted to increase development fees for water and wastewater from $0.36 per square foot to $12.74 by 2029. However, the Executive Director of The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) Richard Lee told CK News Today that no contact has been made in the past 10 months.
"I have yet to hear from the municipality," said Lee.
Lee said greenhouse owners in Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex area are becoming increasingly agitated with the absence of investment in critical infrastructure and are considering constructing a private waterline themselves to service the local sector.
"We have been working with greenhouse owners that are exploring creating a privatized waterline to service CK and potentially expanding as far as Leamington. This is purely conceptual at this time but our members are growing antsy with the lack of support to invest in critical infrastructure in the municipalities we have greenhouse farms already established," he said.
Lee explained several local greenhouse growers bought significant acreage in the south end of CK with the understanding that the land was open to greenhouse development and had the necessary infrastructure to support growth. However, they are being forced to make difficult decisions to either sell the land, use wells, or implement their own wastewater solutions.
He said greenhouse investment continues to head south of the border to neighbouring states where they are met with friendly investment opportunities, tax breaks, and where infrastructure needs are facilitated.
"We have experienced significant consolidation over the past one-and-a-half years and based on the threats of tariffs, cost of borrowing, and ongoing challenges, I do not see a whole lot of investments staying west of London," Lee said.
Investing in other jurisdictions or buying up existing farms will be the primary focus of OGVG growers, according to Lee.
"You see a lot of investment in purchasing existing farms across the United States due to the uncertainties here in Canada and threats of trade action," noted Lee.
He said the region's greenhouse industry has lost over 400 acres over the years to New York, Michigan, and Ohio.
Lee added the new Enbridge gas line and new Hydro One transmission line in the area are only part of the solution, adding that local greenhouses can’t kick-start new projects when there are moratoriums on water, restrictive bylaws, and development charges that aim to "impede growth" of greenhouse farming in Ontario.
"They [Enbridge/Hydro One] have recognized the importance of agriculture in the southwestern region and have tied us into their plans of supporting growth in this area," he said.
According to Lee, the greenhouse sector is the second largest user of natural gas in Ontario and Enbridge’s announcement will facilitate up to 1,200 additional acres in the region to grow fresh vegetables year-round.
"Hydro One’s Chatham to Lakeshore transmission line is much needed infrastructure to support the use of lit production so that we can reduce our reliance on imported produce using supplemental lighting to grow year-round," Lee added. "With over 80% of the greenhouse acreage located in Essex County, these two pieces of infrastructure are only pieces of the puzzle that require solutions to address the lack of water, wastewater, and friendly policies to ensure the investment remains in Ontario."
Lee noted one thing that Canada has over the U.S. is our Temporary Foreign Worker Program, but that too will quickly change once America establishes a merit-based immigration policy to support "nearshoring", a practice that recruits employees from a neighbouring country to complete services.