Wildfire smoke affects workers in Niagara region while produce farms endure

As the wildfires continue to burn in northern Ontario, some businesses in the Niagara region are being impacted as well.

A bike wine tour operator in Niagara-on-the-Lake said that 90 per cent of his tours scheduled for Friday and Saturday were cancelled or rescheduled because of the air quality.

Romagnoli farms in Beamsville grow anything from peaches to cherries, and some vegetables as well.

The farm’s co-owner Jack Romagnoli says his orchards are doing just fine, despite the smoke from northern Ontario wildfires.

“Well from a personal standpoint it’s uncomfortable,” said Romagnoli. “The orchard’s not really being impacted. It’s only been a day or two of heat and humidity along with the smoke.”

Romagnoli says the weather has actually been ideal for growing fruit.

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“You know what, if this was to carry on all summer long — every day, day in, day out, 24 hours a day, I’d say we’d have a problem, but this is one or two days, and now the heat and humidity is actually a good thing for fruit,” said Romagnoli. “So we’re looking at a really nice crop of sweet, tender fruit.”

Over at Fielding Estate Winery, Curtis Fielding says an outdoor yoga session had to be cancelled, but other than that, the smoke hasn’t impacted his business.

“The smoking has been a little bit of an inconvenience, but honestly, put it in perspective of what the people up north are dealing with,” said Fielding. “You know, businesses are closing, businesses are closing and houses, and we’ve got it pretty easy.”

Like the tender fruit, these grapes won’t be affected at all by the wildfires in northern Ontario, but the people who work these fields have been impacted.

“Obviously, with anything like this, with air quality, we have to reschedule some stuff that we were going to do out in the vineyard,” said Fielding. “Workers go home early, stuff gets cancelled. It’s just part of dealing with mother nature.”

READ MORE: Fast-moving fires destroy homes in northern Ontario as crews fight flames

“So the problem really lies in the guys, the workers, the employees, the guys like myself out in the field,” said Romagnoli. “We get hot, we get sore throats, get the red eyes — all that stuff goes along with the smoke.”

The bicycle wine tour business in Niagara has been hammered by the smoke.

“Probably 90 per cent of our bike tours tomorrow I’ve cancelled or rescheduled,” said Richard Mell, the co-owner of Grape Escape Wine Tours.

Grape Escape in Niagara-on-the-Lake has seen more cancellations this week than they have all summer.

“It seems to be coming a lot better here, so trying to encourage people that it’s maybe not as bad as in their hometowns,” said Mell, “because most people usually come from further north and we are about as south as you can get in Ontario.”

Grape Escape says a lot of their customers are trying to reschedule for another date, but many are also opting for vehicle tours, instead of riding a bike.

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