Hudak Envisions Second Food Terminal for Ontario

Mar 11, 2013

Hudak Conservatives Pitch Creation of a Second Food Terminal Outside of Toronto

Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak made a pit stop at the Western Fair London Farm Show on Friday (touted as Ontario’s largest indoor farm show) to announce his vision for the creation of a second regional food terminal somewhere outside of Toronto.

Hudak says the governing Liberals have ignored the agriculture sector and encouraged the rural urban divide.

“We want to correct that and we want to make sure that the province of Ontario sees agriculture as a leading innovator and a creator of jobs and wealth in the province, “says Hudak.

The Ontario conservatives beleive that a second food terminal should be created using private money. Hardeman notes that the creation of another food terminal should be industry led, with the government encouraging the food sector.

Hudak boasts that the creation of regional food terminal would be a job creator, increase market access for farmers and improve the distribution of fresh Ontario produce.

“It’s time for a second, regional food terminal to help connect our farmers with small food processors, restaurants and retailers, and to augment the Toronto facility – so successful, it’s called ‘the stock exchange’ for Ontario produce,” Hudak said.

The location of the food terminal is yet to be determined, but Hudak said that the location could possibly be in Southern Ontario. Hudak explains that the location of the new terminal should be chosen by farmers and food retailers.

“It’s been a huge success [Toronto’s food terminal] build in 1954 and sixty years later, it’s bursting at the seams,” says Hudak.

Hudak was accompanied by Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman, the party’s Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Critic. The announcement provided a glimpse of what to expect in the conservative’s upcoming agriculture white paper, which is scheduled to be released sometime this week. The soon-to-be agriculture platform will be the 12th in a series of papers released by the Hudak conservatives.

Ontario’s food processing sector is a $40 billion industry in the province.

After the announcement, Tim Hudak and Ernie Hardeman spoke to some of the farmers and exhibitors at the farm show.

(Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak and Oxford MPP and Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Critic Ernie Hardeman announce an idea to create a second regional food terminal in the province.)

(Tim Hudak and Ernie Hardeman speaking to an exhibitor at the farm show after the announcment.)

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.