Name

Mario Lopez

Occupation

Farm Worker, Atlantic Grown Organics

What does your job entail?

I work in the packing house and am in charge of packing cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and checking for quality. I also twist the plants around the strings in the cucumber area and sometimes harvest the cucumbers.

How long have you been involved in agriculture\food industry on PEI?

It’s been 6 years this year. I worked for five years here at this farm for eight months each time. Previously, I worked one season for three months in Ontario.

What do you like most about this work?

I like the relationship that we have together and the connection I have with my coworkers. It's much better to have a long work period of 8 months and not two or three months because that's not enough to be able to support my family.

Where are you from and why did you decide to come to Canada?

I'm from Sinaloa state in Mexico. I came here to help grow my life, improve my life more than anything. In my future, I would like to have my own business in Mexico with my father. My father has some land, 10 hectares, and I would like to seed that land.

You were trained in Mexico as an accountant as well, correct?

Yes that's right, but when I tried to get a job every door I went to it was “You need experience. You need experience” so I could not get a good job. My training was for things like auditing inventory in a grocery store.

What's your favorite thing about Prince Edward Island?

The people are very friendly. They are very good to us, or at least I can say that to me personally. The places that are here are very beautiful. We have gone and seen a few of them and of course here is very different from Mexico. The snow, of course, we didn't know about and the first time that we saw it was when we came here.

What are your plans for the future?

I will stay here for a time, but in the future I want to have a business in Mexico to stabilize me there so that I can remain in Mexico.

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