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Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Newsletter #311 Feb-March 2016

Volume 32, Number 2

Fresh Facts

Inside this issue:

Membership News 2

OFFMA’s Annual

Awards Banquet4

March Workshops 7

Wine and Spirits

Retaining News6

Upcoming Events 8

Round Up on theBull Pen 3

President’s Message

Did you attend the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention in Niagara Falls? Are younot just pumped and ready to take on the upcoming season now? It’s early Fridaymorning right after the convention and I’m having trouble sleeping; so many ideas run-ning through my head I just had to get up to catch some of them.

Is your one page business plan from Joe Calhoon’s workshop completed so you canhave engaged employees who are all on the same page? Are your objectives laid outby now and tasks assigned to people with a completion date set so they get them

done?

This is the winter of review, rethinking and reworking what we are doing on our farm.Clearing my bookshelves and sorting through the workshops attended in the past hasgiven me ample material to dig through, rediscovering and gleaning more ideas to try.Books like ‘The Experience Economy’ by Joe Pine II and ‘How to Sell a Lobster’ by BillBishop make for engaging reading and are still relevant even after 15 years in print.

Please participate in our surveys. They take time, I know, but it is a good way to get apicture of our industry and some stats. You know how government likes the numbersand having them helps us obtain funding so we can bring you top notch programs andpeople to help you succeed. It’s winter. Please take some time to complete them – the

Snapshot of our Industry survey run by Georgian College and the labour benchmarkingsurvey from Erin Pirro have a March 7th deadline for completion. Your input is muchappreciated.

I love attending this conference for the fellowship, the inspiration and the problem solv-ing. The willingness to share, the fellowship, positivity and creativity abounded in ourworkshop and summit sessions. Check the newsletter and read about our award win-ners.

I am also honoured to be elected to the position of OFFMA President for a second oneyear term. The first year has just flown by. Feel free to contact me if there issomething you think OFFMA should be working on for your behalf.

I just love this association and the members in it. Thanks for being part of it.

Leslie ForsytheOFFMA President

Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.


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Page 3Newsletter #311

New this year at the OFFMA summit was theBull Pen, Agriculture’s answer to the Dragon’sDen. Our gracious bulls were, in no particularorder, Kelly Ward from Foodland Ontario, Jesse

Lauzon from Springridge and Jennifer MacKen-zie, OFFMA Ambassador Award winner for2016.Our participants were Rebecca Landman fromLandman’s Gardens and Bakery, Lis Burrowfrom Jewels Under the Kilt, and Brenda Danielswhose business is called From the Meadow.This energetic group was corralled by SteveSmith who admits that it was difficult to keep thewhole event on time and on track as the feed-back was so useful and critical, he didn’t want tocut any of the bulls off in mid sentence.

Rebecca’s dilemma was how to promote herBlackhouse dinners at the farm to a larger audi-ence. Lis grows a variety of tree nuts and roaststhem with wonderful flavours such a maple ap-ple pie. Her products have been well receivedbut she wants to increase sales and was look-ing for some ideas on how to do that. Brendabrought an incredible sampling of everything

made with sea buck-thorn berries. She isgrowing these shrubson her farm and wants

more people to learnabout the berries and their incredible healthbenefits.Feedback from the bulls was very insightful.Kelly Ward has a strong social media back-ground. She reviewed websites as well as thesocial media presence of the participants be-fore the actual event and was able to give solidinformation on how to make better use of whatthey had available.Jesse Lauzon looked at the products and ser-vices offered from the perspective of estab-

lished on-farm marketer based on what hasand hasn’t worked for him in the past.Jennifer MacKenzie has vast experience withfood bloggers, chefs and PR companies andshe shared tips on how to get their attentionand how to develop a network that will help youmarket your product and/or experience.

Round Up on the Bull Pen


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OFFMA’s Annual Awards BanquetFebruary, 16, 2016

Page 4 Fresh Facts

Jesse Lauzon fromSpringridge was honoured

with the Leadership Awardthis year for his dedicationand commitment to theOFFMA Board where heserved as a member andeventually the president.Presenting the award toJesse are Hollis English(present OFFMA Boardmember) and Bruce Parks(2015 Leadership Awardreceipient).

Nicole Judge, OFFMA’s Vice President presented Jen-nifer MacKenzie with OFFMA’s Ambassador Award.Jennifer is a cookbook author, recipe developer, foodwriter and strong supporter of Ontario farmers and localfood. It was an honour to recognize Jennifer for the workshe had done to support Ontario agriculture.

This year, a special recognition was alsooffered to someone who had workedwith OFFMA to help bring the organiza-tion to a new level and make it the vi-brant community it is today. Dorene Col-lins (right), formerly with OMAFRA gra-ciously accepted this recognition pre-sented here by Cathy Bartolic (left).


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Page 5Newsletter #311

Shain, Nick and Lynda VanCasteren were over themoon to have NicholynFarms recognized as the2016 Outstanding Farm Mar-ket.They have created a won-derful on-farm market basedon meat products that theyproduce as well as sourcefrom neighbouring farmers.

The Van Casterens are con-stantly looking at ways toimprove their business and itdefinitely shows.Karen Whitty (far right), fromWhitty Farms & 13th StreetWinery as well as the 2015winner presented the awardto the Van Casteren family.

The Food Innovation Awardsponsored by Foodland Ontariohad two winners this year. All theentries were amazing and judgeshad a difficult time deciding on

one winner. A tie was declared - Steed Lav-ender and Company for their lav-ender preserves and FrootogoOrchards for their Frozen FarmSoups were the 2016 winners.Suzanne Steed was unable toattend the Awards Banquet butWilly Hekman (right) was thrilledto receive her award from BarbSmith (left) representingFoodland Ontario.

Thank you to our sponsorsFoodland Ontario

AndDarling Insurance

You make the awards special and we appreciate it.


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Fresh FactsPage 6

Now Accepting Applications for the 2016 Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence Program!

Have you developed and implemented a unique product or process thathelps foster innovation in Ontario’s agriculture and food sector.? If so, youcould be eligible to receive one of the following awards from the Premier’s

Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence Program:

Premier’s Award (one award valued at $75,000)Minister’s Award (one award valued at $50,000)Leaders in Innovation Awards (three awards valued at $25,000 each)Provincial Awards (45 awards valued at $5,000 each)

Primary producers / farmers, processors and agri-food organizations areinvited to apply.

A copy of the Program Guidebook and Application Form, as well as infor-mation on previous award recipients is available online at www.ontario.ca/agrifoodinnovation or by phone at 1-877-424-1300.

Appl ications wil l be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Apri l 15, 2016.


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Page 8 Fresh Facts

Ontario Farm Fresh

Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director

2002 Vandorf Rd. Aurora, ON L4G 7B9

Phone: 905-841-9278

E-mail: [email protected]

www.ontariofarmfresh.com

2016 17 OFFMA Board of Directors

Leslie Forsythe, President

Forsythe Family Farms

Nicole Judge, Vice President

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery

Brian Hugli, Past President

Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch

Kristin Ego MacPhail, Ego Nurseries Ltd.

Hollis English, Murphy’s Farm Market &

BakeryCara Epp, Associate Member

Edana Integrated Marketing

Steve Martin, Martin’s Family Fruit Farm

Dana Thatcher, Thatcher Farms

Karen Whitty, Whitty Farms

Jessica Kelly, OMAFRA Advisor

Upcoming Events

March 22 Labour Benchmarking Workshop with Erin Pirro, registration form isincluded with this newsletter

March 30 Outstanding Customer Service—Your Best Marketing Strategy Webinar,

contact the OFFMA office for details, 905-841-9278

Good News from the Premier’s Advisory Council on Government Assets

Striking the Right Balance Modernizing Wine and Spirits Retailing and

Distribution in Ontario

In April 2015, the Premier’s Advisory Council on Government Assets (the Council) pre-

sented its report to government entitled Striking the Right Balance: Modernizing BeerRetailing and Distribution in Ontario.

That report outlined changes to the beer retailing and distribution system under a newten-year beer agreement and introduced a new Beer in Grocery channel. The govern-

ment’s aspiration was that beer would be available in grocery stores by the 2015 holi-day season. That was achieved.

Following the publication of our report on beer, the Council moved to examine wine

and spirits retailing and distribution. We examined all aspects of the system, consultedextensively with industry stakeholders, and worked closely with government. That ena-

bled us to refine our thinking and to develop an achievable framework of proposalsthat has the support of government and stakeholders.

The issues examined were complex and there were divergent views among stakehold-ers. These competing interests and the intricate structure of the wine sector inherently

required a multifaceted solution. The Council is satisfied that our recommendationsrepresent a balanced outcome for the people of Ontario.

These are the specific recommendations for Craft Cider and Fruit Wines produced inOntario.

CiderCider in Ontario is currently sold through the LCBO, WRS, and directly to bars and res-taurants. Total annual cider sales in Ontario are around $70 million, of which 70% is

imported cider. Ontario craft cider has a small share of sales – around $4 million annu-

ally. Cider is a rapidly growing category with overall growth of 40% last year, while On-tario cider is growing even faster – at 55%.

Although cider is officially classified as a wine in Ontario, it is considered by consum-ers to be more comparable to beer. Having looked carefully at the cider market, we are

proposing to include cider in the Beer in Grocery initiative. To this end, we recommendpermitting the 60 grocery stores licenced to sell beer in 2015 to also sell cider, both

imported and domestic. We recommend that a certain proportion of a grocer’s cider

shelf space be set aside for products from small cider producers.We are also recommending that craft cider be included in the province’s Farmers’ Mar-

ket initiative.

Fruit WineFruit wines are sold through the LCBO, WRS, and directly to bars and restaurants. Fruit

wine is a small category, with total sales of under $4 million annually.Based on our review of fruit wines, we are recommending that they be included in the

new grocery channel. We are also recommending that fruit wine be included in the

province’s Farmers’ Market initiative. Lastly, fruit wine producers should be allowed todeliver directly to bars and restaurants at the same rate as VQA wine producers.

To see the complete report, go to https://www.ontario.ca/page/striking-right-balance-

modernizing-wine-and-spirits-retailing-and-distribution-ontario

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