By Mark Kunkel, Board Member, Ontario Federation of Agriculture
What a week it’s been for Ontario agriculture. Farmers, consumers and our political leaders celebrated Ontario Agriculture Week, welcomed a new food literacy initiative, and reviewed trade agreements and export opportunities for Canadian farmers.
Ontario Agriculture Week, October 5-11, was the perfect opportunity for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) to launch Six by Sixteen, a new food literacy program developed by the OFA to teach young people how to plan and prepare six nutritious (and locally sourced) meals by the time they are 16 years old. OFA, along with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), identified the importance of food literacy in the National Food Strategy, a vision for food and agriculture in Canada designed to guide policy development in the food system. Partnering with commodity groups to leverage existing food literacy materials, Six by Sixteen is an online hub of resources for parents, health professionals and young teens to promote local food and healthy food choices. The new program, created by the OFA was announced on October 6 with the support of Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs at an MPP reception at Queen’s Park.
Ontario Agriculture Week was the perfect backdrop for OFA directors to meet with MPPs and their staff to address a number of concerns affecting Ontario farmers. The new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement was on everyone’s mind, and how the effects of the new agreement will be felt by all agricultural commodities across Canada. OFA understands the new agreement will provide new opportunities for Canadian exports of beef and pork, ensuring these products compete on a level playing field with key competitors. However, in order to capitalize on these new opportunities, OFA continues to highlight to government that Ontario’s agriculture, processing and distribution sectors still need to be competitive at the production level. And that means we must have competitive energy including province-wide access to natural gas, and a farm and industrial electricity rate comparable to all other North American jurisdictions. Rural Ontario businesses and farms also need access to state of the art infrastructure including broadband internet to connect with global markets, and upgrades to roads and bridges so farmers can ship our goods worldwide.
Ontario agriculture is big business, contributing $13.7 billion to Ontario’s GDP, employing 158,000 jobs and paying out $8.1 billion in wages and salaries. An appropriate lead up to the Thanksgiving weekend, Ontario Agriculture Week is an opportunity to celebrate agriculture – the abundance of food our farmers produce, the rural communities we support and the economic engine we fuel.
Source: OFA