A REMINDER TO PLEASE CALL BEFORE YOU VISIT US

Published: Thursday, April 2, 2020. Updated Friday, April 30, 2021.

WANSTEAD BRANCH   519-845-3301
ALVINSTON BRANCH   519-898-2861

We are open for business, however, our offices are still closed to walk-in traffic.

• Effective Monday, March 22, 2021, we return to regular office business hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.
• Yard hours will vary based on customer needs, including weekends.
• Please call your local Wanstead branch for service or if you have any agronomy-related questions, call your Wanstead Crop Sales Specialist's mobile.
• We have policies in place for grain pickups and deliveries to keep all parties safe. If you have any inquiries about our processes, please feel free to contact the Wanstead Logistics Department, or Wanstead Grain Team. 

We appreciate your business and wish everyone to be safe.

We want to thank you for your support as we all find new ways of doing business during this unprecedented time.

Wanstead Co-op is fully prepared for spring and many of you have been assisting us by taking products early, thank you. Protecting the health and safety of our employees, members and the community at large is paramount during these unprecedented times.

With the busy season starting, the best way we can serve you is to ensure our staff are healthy and ready to go. Collectively we can help to ensure this by strictly observing guidelines as published and updated by our health officials.

1. Keep your hands clean
   1. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
   2. Use alcohol-based hand sanitiser if soap and water are not available
2. When coughing or sneezing
   
   1. Remember to cough or sneeze into the bend of your arm, not into your hand
   2. Cough or sneeze into a tissue and throw the tissue away immediately, then wash your hands right away
3. Practice social distancing
   
   1. Keep at least 2 metres (6 feet) or more between you and other people
   2. Discuss our procedures for pickup and delivery of product when you call-in your order
4. Avoid touching your face
   
   1. Especially touching your eyes, nose and mouth
5. Wear a mask to prevent COVID-19 spread
   As increased rates of community transmission of COVID-19 continue in many areas across Canada, and as new variants of the COVID-19 virus are identified, it remains important that you wear a non-medical mask when:
   
   1. you’re in a shared space (indoors or outdoors) with people from outside of your immediate household
   2. advised by your local public health authority

In an abundance of caution, we are asking for your help.

• Please call before you visit us. Conduct business with us by phone, e-mail and text over the next few weeks. We would like to limit face-to-face contact for your safety and ours. We will observe the social distancing protocols. We will review our procedures for the pick-up and delivery of products when you place your order.
• Accessibility to our offices and yard facilities is restricted to staff only.
• We suggest that you take delivery of as many of your inputs as early as possible. Seed and crop protection products are better in your possession than in ours today.

We are in uncharted territory and information changes by the minute. We are being proactive and reacting to new information as it becomes available to ensure the safety of all parties involved with the co-operative and to ensure business continuity. We are ready for spring and excited to get the season started.

This co-op cares deeply about the safety of all employees, our customers, and all our families. If we embrace these procedures, then we can all go home safely at night.

This is EVERYBODY’S responsibility!!

To learn more about COVID-19 you can find information on Health Canada's website.

Peter Kelly
General Manager, Wanstead Farmers Co-operative Co., Limited

Some facts from the Health Canada website:

Being prepared

The World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed COVID-19 as a pandemic. The assessment by the WHO is not unexpected.

In Canada, our health system is prepared for this situation. Since the outset, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)—along with public health authorities at all levels of government across the country—have been working together to ensure that our preparedness and response measures are appropriate and adaptable, based on the latest science and the evolving situation.

At this time, PHAC has assessed the public health risk associated with COVID-19 as low for the general population in Canada but this could change rapidly. There is an increased risk of more severe outcomes for Canadians:

• aged 65 and over
• with compromised immune systems
• with underlying medical conditions

Our public health efforts will continue to focus on containment to delay the onset of community spread by rapidly identifying cases, meticulously finding close contacts and using tried and true public health measures such as isolation and social distancing.

In the event of community transmission, these actions will continue as long as feasible to interrupt chains of transmission in the community and to delay and reduce an outbreak where possible.

In order to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, everyone has a role to play. It takes more than governments and action from the health sector to protect the health and safety of Canadians. Each of us can help our country be prepared in the event of an emergency by understanding how coronavirus spreads and how to prevent illness.

For individuals

Canadians should continue to think ahead about the actions that they can take to stay healthy and prevent the spread of any illness, especially respiratory infections.

Now and always during cold and flu season, stay home if you are sick. Encourage those you know are sick to stay home until they no longer have symptoms.

Since respiratory viruses, such as the one that causes COVID-19, are spread through contact, change how you greet one another. Instead of a handshake, a kiss or a hug, a friendly wave or elbow bump is less likely to expose you to respiratory viruses.

Practise frequent hand hygiene and coughing and sneezing etiquette. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces, such as toys and door handles.