Dear Members,
The world faces a serious and unprecedented health crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic. Seed sector partners are working together and closely monitoring the situation in Canada and its impacts on our industry.
Business continuity is the highest priority after the safety of our staff. It is our intent to continue to provide excellent customer service to our members and clients throughout this period. Our well-established remote work capabilities have allowed our entire team to transitioned to remote work. You can continue to reach our staff via office telephone numbers and email addresses. If you cannot get through, please leave a message and we will get back to you.
The province of Ontario (where CSGA’s head office is located) has ordered all non-essential businesses to close for a period of 14 days. As support services for agriculture have been deemed an essential business, CSGA will remain open and services will continue to be delivered nationally. We will continue to adapt and find ways to meet your needs as this crisis unfolds. We ask for your patience and understanding as we make the required adjustments together.
We encourage members to send in seed crop certification documents and payments via the Members’ Area of the CSGA website. If you haven’t previously used this resource, please call our office and we will happily walk you through the platform. As the situation is continuously changing, please do not send applications, cheques or other documentation by mail at this time.
Our partners at the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council are routinely updating a resource webpage to help farms navigate COVID-19 including the latest information, recommended protocols, employee management tips, links to authorities and tools like posters and policies. We encourage you to visit the page for tips on how to protect your farm. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture also has a resource page and is inviting farms to complete a survey by March 26th to assess how COVID-19 is impacting Canadian farms.
We will continue to update you as details change. We wish everyone continued health.
