Officials with Redhat Co-op say they are operating at full capacity and have met increased demand as Albertans have increased their food purchasing over the last few weeks.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Redhat Co-op says it met an increased demand for fresh vegetable orders last week while meeting strict calls for increased health and safety, and it expects to resume more normal production levels in the coming weeks.
Another bright spot is that local crops of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are the first spring harvest and will soon be available for sale.
“We’re not foreseeing that we’ll short anyone,” general manager Gillian Digman told the News on Thursday. “We’ve been fulfilling all orders with an increased demand, and we expect that will level out.”
Worries persist about supplies of food as most of society is being asked to stay home or away from other people as a key strategy to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Early Thursday, the Alberta Agriculture Ministry said that major grocery retailers saw a 50 per cent increase in sales over the last two weeks – which Digman said aligns with retailers’ orders to the Redcliff-based packaging and marketing co-op.
“Our team has really done an amazing job,” she said, noting the dozens of growers who comprise the co-op are taking increased measures as well.
“We guessed fairly early on that we’d be classified as key workforce, so we concentrated on the health and safety aspects.” Combined, about 160 acres of greenhouse space produces 6 million cases of vegetables per year.
New health measures include closing the facility to the public, groups of shift workers are segregated, breaks staggered, and operations modified to provide greater physical distance. Where that space is unavailable – mostly on the production line – plexiglass barriers have been erected to segment workers who have their temperature taken as they enter the building.
A further contingency plan is in place, said Digman, and hiring is about to increase ahead of the busier spring-summer season. Those details should be available soon on the Redhat website.
The time of year is also beneficial, in that as new locally grown crops mature, Redhat no longer requires shipments of vegetables from United States or Mexico to fill in supply during the slower winter growing season in Canada.
“It’s all Canadian crop,” said Digman.
