A weekly report prepared by the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). If you require further information, regarding this report, call the Elora Resource Centre at 519-846-0941. Office hours: 8:30am to 4:30pm. For technical information, call the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or visit the OMAFRA website: www.ontario.ca/omafra.
CELEBRATING DIRECT MARKETING
For the very first time, the 2016 Census of Agriculture asked, “did this operation sell any agricultural products directly to consumers for human consumption?” With this simple question, we now have a glimpse into direct sales of Ontario’s local foods that we’ve never had before.
Ontario leads the country with 7,474 farms reporting direct-to-consumer sales, followed by British Columbia and Quebec with 5,667 and 5,459 farms respectively. Overall, 15.1 per cent of Ontario’s farms are making local foods available for direct purchase by consumers.
Ontario’s Central West Region is a direct marketing powerhouse with over 330 farms engaging in direct-to-consumer sales in each of Grey, Wellington, Niagara, Simcoe, and Waterloo.
It is also notable to look at regions with the highest proportion of farms engaging in direct-to-consumer sales. By this metric, Haliburton leads the province with 53% of farms engaging in some form of direct sales, followed by Muskoka with 48%. In Thunder Bay, Algoma, Parry Sound, and Kenora, roughly 40% of all farms are engaging in direct-to-consumer sales – an indication of the importance of direct marketing as a sales channel for Northern Ontario producers.
What is being sold?
Nearly all of Ontario’s direct marketers (97% or 7,265 farms) are selling unprocessed agricultural products, while only 12% or 907 farms are selling value-added products. This represents a potential area for growth as Ontario is lagging behind Quebec, most Maritime Provinces and the national average of 14%. Niagara Region has the highest number of farms reporting direct sales of value-added products at 54%.
How is it being sold?
The predominant sales channel for Ontario’s direct marketers is on-farm retail (farm gate/stand/kiosk/u-pick) with 90% (6,709 farms) using this channel. Farmers’ markets are the second most common channel: 1,619 farms sell their products at one or more farmers’ markets. This represents 3.3% of all Ontario farms, just above the national average of 2.8%. In Ontario, Niagara Region has the most farms reporting farmers’ market sales (122 farms) while Kenora, Thunder Bay and Algoma have the highest proportion of farms reporting farmers’ markets sales.
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COMING EVENTS
June 17 – Waterloo Rural Women’s 22nd Annual Children’s Farm Safety Day, Heritage Hill Farms, 967192 Oxford Waterloo Road, New Dundee. For more information and to register, call Susan Martin 519-669-8066, email florahills2416@gmail.com or Donna Rogers 519-576-1933, email dmrogers@sympatico.ca
June 19 and 26 – Fergus, Day 2 – Growing Your Farm Profits (GYFP) – Planning for Business Success workshops and webinars for Growing Forward 2 (GF2). Visit ontariosoilcrop.org or call 519-955-3139 for location of workshop or more information.
