Okay, it's close to vacation time, so not only am I weary, I may be hallucinating. Does anyone else remember TV ads for Heinz ketchup where a person runs out of Heinz ketchup and when a substitute is offered the disdainful response was "that's not Heinz." I can't find any evidence that these commercials ever existed, so maybe I'm making it up.
Well, that's not Heinz in Leamington Ontario anymore. After more than a century in the community the Heinz plant is closing. It processed about forty percent of the province's field tomatoes, which means it was key to both agriculture and manufacturing. A deal was struck with Heinz to contract out processing which is a ray of hope for both farmers and plant workers, but production has been scaled back. Only about a third of the 700 employees will still have jobs making nine dollars an hour less than before. The farmers grew their tomato crops to Heinz's specific standards, and it's hard to imagine another market for what they grow.
We might throw a few rotten tomatoes at Warren Buffett Heinz, but we can pray for the best. Perhaps more of those out-of-work employees will be rehired. It is just another example of the ugly way production shifts to other parts of the world for a better bottom line.
Should we care, really, and should we care as Christians? The production of tomato products seems like a bit of a stretch as a justice issue. Yet we should be concerned about agriculture in the places where we live. In Ontario we just don't seem to care that so much of what we eat as fresh and processed produce comes from somewhere else, often a great distance. We are highly dependent on fruit and veggies from California, a state where persistent drought is creating a crisis for growers. We can't eat what they can't grow. It's as simple at that.
Am I stretching it to think we should care about the closure of the Heinz plant? Should we be paying more attention to agriculture and processing in this province? Do you know any good tomato prayers?
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