Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Fresh Facts
Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.

A word from the President Newsletter #328

April–May 2018
Spring is here! And all the things that come with it. Seeding, pruning, anxiously watch- Volume 34, Number 3
ing that thermometer, hoping for rain but not too much rain, and all the other things in-
volved in getting another year on the farm started.

Another thing that starts to happen for many of us at this time of the year is calls coming
in from the local news media. Inside this issue:

Have you ever thought about the fact that to a certain extent you have become a local Membership News 2
celebrity in your own right? I use that word somewhat loosely as none of us are celeb-
rities in the way we normally think of them. But the fact that your local radio station or
Book Review— 4
The Power of
newspaper thinks of you when they have a question in regards to agriculture or food Moments
tells me that you are at the very least a local celebrity and that you are seen as an ex- 2018-19 Board of 5
pert in the local community in these areas. Directors

Of course it is a great thing to feel recognized and appreciated. But with that feeling I OFFMA ‘s Award 6
Winners
think also comes a degree of responsibility. Below find a few points that I think we
should keep in mind as we begin a new season. Getting More Out of 8
Your Bookkeeping
Software
First and foremost give these media sessions the time and priority they deserve. You
are being given a chance to be an ambassador first of all for your own business but al- Synopsis of Bill 148 10
so for the rest of the industry. Keep in mind that while some of the answers may seem
elementary and obvious to you, many in your audience may not be aware of these
Upcoming 12
Events
things. Taking the questions seriously and giving honest and well thought out answers
is of utmost importance. If you are doing a live interview do not be afraid to ask ahead
of time what the questions will be so you have some time to formulate the answers in
your mind. But most importantly, simply try to be yourself. I find it often helps to forget
that I am talking to a large crowd and simply pretend it is just me and the person asking
the questions having a conversation.

Another way for you to make use of your quasi celebrity status is to as often as possible
make yourself personally available to your customers. It may seem really weird to you
but people that have perhaps seen you on TV often get a special kick out of the fact
that you stopped for a minute and took the time to talk with them. Even if you cannot
put a name to their face treat them like the regular customer that they probably are.
Customers that think of you as a friend and acquaintance often become really loyal cus-
tomers. If you happen to be able to remember their name so much the better.
I am reminded of the importance of this every year when I enter the Embassy Suites at
the OFVGA convention. Every year the doorman greets me with a cheery smile and a
“Welcome back Mr. Martin”. And it makes me feel good.

It makes me want to come back again. This year it even made me want to bring a bag
of apples along for him because I knew in advance he was going to recognize me.
continued on page 3
Page 2 Fresh Facts
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Classifieds
FOR SALE
Pie Master Model MT-20E Electri-
cally Operated Turnover Machine
Asking $3000; Contact
Smithsapplemarket@gmail.com or
519-832-3051 for more information.
Mapleton's Organic Dairy
Looking to scoop ice cream?
Bulk ice cream and soft serve frozen
yogurt available.
info@mapletonsorganic.ca
FOR SALE
Frozen pitted sour cherries available
for wholesale and retail from
Delhaven Orchards, 519-676-4475 or
delhaven@ciaccess.com
FOR SALE
Our own grown & pressed ciders &
fruit blends as well as jams.
No preservatives, pure, natural,
great shelf life & delicious.
Please contact Bayfield Berry Farm
for more information 519-482-1666
or salesberryfarm@tcc.on.ca
FOR SALE
2L and 4L plastic baskets, made in
Canada, sturdy handles, strong dura-
ble plastic, weatherproof, reliable deliv-
ery. www.shouldicefarm.com
Contact: shouldice1@bell.net,
613-838-4203
FOR SALE
“The Amazing Book of Mazes” by Adri-
an Fisher. Hardcover, 2006 edition,
264 pages in excellent condition. Ask-
ing $20, contact Cathy at the OFFMA
office, 905-841-9278 or
cathy@ontariofarmfresh.com
Welcome to our new members, so glad
you found us. Looking forward to getting
to know you and your business a whole
lot better this year.
Alan & Nancy Moore
Moore Berries & Farm Fresh Produce
Ayr, ON 519-717-1483
www.facebook.com/MooreBerries1
Moore Berries is first a berry farm that has
ready pick and pick your own strawberries,
but as you will find out from a visit they
have far more. They have farm fresh pro-
duce that includes corn, beans, peas as
well as a whole range of additional pro-
duce.
Gail Lanktree & Jacques Duquette
Fraisiѐre Duquette Strawberries
Clarence Creek, ON 613-488-3284
www.DuquetteStrawberries.com
Gail and Jacques are nicely tying the sea-
sons together with ready pick and pick
your own strawberries, raspberries, pump-
kins, squash and gourds. In recent years,
they have been beekeeping and the bees
love the nectar from their fruit especially
the raspberries. They sell their honey raw
and unpasteurized.
Sandra Hutchings
Hutchings Farm
Pefferlaw, ON 905-955-2389
www.facebook.com/hutchingsfarm
Hutchings Farm features their own lamb,
turkey, chickens and eggs, as well as a
bountiful market garden. They grow a wide
variety of fruits and vegetables that in-
cludes beans, beets, carrots, corn, straw-
berries, raspberries, pumpkins and a whole
lot more.
Associate Members
Jamie Somers
Howell Data Systems
Vaughan, ON 905-761-1712 x 2106
www.Howelldatasystems.com
Howell Data Systems Inc. develops, de-
ploys and supports Grocery, Pharmacy,
Fuel and Retail point of sale solutions
(POS). HDS provides leading edge hard-
ware configurations that can be custom-
ized to support multi-store roll-outs to sin-
gle terminal stores from coast to coast.
Sean Woodland
SanEcoTech
Ottawa, ON
877-610-0787 x 2315 613-491-0525
www.sanecotech.com
Their business is about water purification.
SanEcoTec brings innovation and expertise
together with a common vision of adopting
sustainable water treatment practices.
AVIVE™ is its water treatment process that
provides an effective alternative to chlorine
in secondary disinfection. AVIVE™ aims to
restore water to its natural, healthy state.
 Newsletter #328 Page 3

And sure enough he did not disappoint.

Most of us think of ourselves as just farmers. We are just trying to scratch out a
living doing what we love doing. But may I suggest that we have the opportunity
to do so much more. May I suggest that we all work even harder at making our
farms not only places where people come to get some of the best food in the
world but also places that when they leave, our customers feel just a little bit
happier than when they came.

They pay for the food. The smiles are free.

Steve Martin
OFFMA President
Nuffield Canada has up to five scholarships of $15,000 each, available for 2019, and the
deadline for applicants is the end of April. This is an incredible opportunity for someone in-
volved in agriculture to travel the world, meeting top industry leaders, and getting to see/
experience things not normally open to the public. It’s also a chance for them to deeply study
an issue of importance to their sector, learn how the issue is being tackled around the globe,
and to bring back solutions to Canada, benefiting our industry for the long-term.

In Ontario, there are two scholarships for people to apply for – the Grain Farmers’ of Ontario
scholarship is awarded to any involved in Ontario’s grain industry, and the Glacier Farm Media
scholarship is open for all general scholars.
Application forms and more information can be found at www.nuffield.ca
Page 4 Fresh Facts
Book Review by Leslie Forsythe
The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath
My first exposure to the authors Chip
and Dan Heath was with their book
Made To Stick. They have an easy to
read writing style so when I found their
new book The Power of Moments it
was an easy decision to buy.
The premise of the book is that we all
experience defining moments in our
lives; a short experience
that is both memorable
and meaningful that we
remember for a long
time. Defining moments
are moments that can
shape our lives. They
contain at least one of
these 4 elements- Eleva-
tion, Insight, Pride and
Connection.
Why would you be inter-
ested and want to create
them?
Defining moments –
• Enrich our lives
• Connect us with
others
• Make memories
• Improve the experience of our
customers and employees
Chip and Dan cover a lot of research
and tell many interesting stories to il-
lustrate how these moments are made
so we can understand how they hap-
pen and create them. An example-
research has shown that when re-
calling an experience we tend to ig-
nore most of what happened and fo-
cus instead on a few particular mo-
ments. We tend to remember the
REMINDER– Clearing Auction Sale
Saturday, April 21, 2018
For Orchalaw Farms
9726 Heritage Road, Brampton
Complete listing can be found on their website at
www.orchalawfarms.com
peaks, the pits and the transitions. You
don’t need to obsess over every detail
of the experience offered as long as
some of the moments are magical.
An enlightening section is on their cov-
erage of an employee’s first day at
John Deere in Asia – a time of transi-
tion – intellectually, socially and envi-
ronmentally. It encourages
me to reconsider the effort
and structure of a new em-
ployee’s first day as we
want them to buy into our
culture and the vision of
our farm. Their first day on
the job should be a peak
moment.
The goals the Heath broth-
ers sought to achieve in
writing this book are to-
• Examine defining
moments and identify com-
mon elements
• Show us how to cre-
ate defining moments mak-
ing use of these elements
I would say that they achieved these
goals giving me ideas and tools to help
me make time on our farm more mem-
orable for my staff and my customers.
Check out- Building a Storybrand
with Donald Miller - Podcasts on
iTunes. He interviewed Dan Heath on
podcast #79 – How to Create Powerful
Moments for the People You Serve.
itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/79-dan-
heath-how-to-create-powerful-moments
-for-people
 Newsletter #328 Page 5

2018-19 OFFMA Board of Directors

Congratulations to these volunteers who are committing their time and energies
to make the direct farm marketing industry better for all who participate. These
are the people who make decisions for the industry. If you have any comments,
criticisms or suggestions feel free to reach out to them.
Steve J. Martin (President) Jessica.m.kelly@ontario.ca
Martin’s Family Fruit Farm Ltd.
Waterloo, ON 519-664-2750(work) Colleen McKay
stevem@martinsapples.com Your Farm Market
Woodstock, ON 519-535-2569
Kristin Ego MacPhail (Vice-Pres.) yourfarmmarket@gmail.com
Ego Nurseries Ltd.
Coldwater, ON 705-326-9922 (w) Jordan McKay
kristin@egosgardencentre.com Willowtree Farm
Port Perry, ON 905-985-4973
Paul Baxter (Associate Member) info@willowtreefarm.ca
Baxter Kitchens Inc.
Toronto, ON 416-609-2200 Erin McLean
admin@baxterkitchens.com McLean Berry Farm
Lakefield, ON 705-657-1630(h)
Leslie Forsythe (Past President) erin.m@live.ca
Forsythe Family Farms Inc.
Uxbridge, ON 905-887-1086(w) Dana Thatcher
forsythefamilyfarms@gmail.com Thatcher Farms
Rockwood, ON 519-856-4073
Nicole Judge buylocal@thatcher-farms.com
Spirit Tree Estate Cidery
Caledon, ON 905-838-2530(farm) Karen Whitty
contactus@spirittreecider.com Whitty Farms
St. Catharines, ON 905-984-8463(w)
Jessica Kelly (Board Advisor) karen@13thstreetwinery.com
OMAFRA
Elora, ON, 519-846-3404(w)

Welcome to OFFMA Board’s latest Director—

Paul H. Baxter
Paul Baxter is the CEO of Baxter Kitchens Inc. a quality bak-
ery supplier to our industry for about 10 years. He is a father of
four grown children (2 of whom work in the business) and
proud grandfather of twelve very active grandchildren. During
the week he can be found at the bakery, weekends he’ll be
busy visiting family and various hockey arenas. Paul looks for-
ward to serving our industry in whatever way he can.

Paul steps into the Associate Member position. Cara Ferguson has com-
pleted her two-3 year terms on the Board and retired at the AGM in Feb-
ruary. A huge thank you to Cara for her guidance and assistance during
her term. Cara’s marketing company has been responsible for getting out
OFFMA’s consumer newsletter for the last few years.
 Page 6 Fresh Facts

2018 Leadership Award

Jackie Fraser

Jackie, like most OFFMA members was not very

happy with Bill 148 and she decided to do some-
thing about it. She started a campaign to outline
how the Bill would affect small businesses includ-
ing farmers and OFFMA members who hire a signifi-
cant number of employees during the season.
Jackie shared her letters with OFFMA members on
the members only Facebook page and helped to
encourage others to take a stand. Thanks for your
efforts, Jackie.

Jackie Fraser, Fraberts

OFFMA’s
2018
Thank you to
Darling Insurance and Awards of
Vanden Bussche Irrigation
for your sponsorship of the
Excellence
Awards of Excellence Ban-
quet. Your support is
appreciated.

2018 Ambassador Award

Dillion Sher

Dylan Sher didn’t grow up on a farm.

Coming from the Toronto area, the
agriculture student at the University of
Guelph admits he didn’t know much
about farming before heading to uni-
versity.
And that’s providing him with a unique
perspective as he leads the “Before
the Plate” project, a film which aims
to tell the story of and answer ques-
tions about food production in Canada.
Due to debut in August, it is already a
winner.

Colleen McKay presents the Ambassador Award to Dillion Sher.

 Newsletter #328 Page 7

2018 Outstanding
On-Farm Market Award
Murphy’s Farm Market & Bakery

Mark and Shawn Murphy started an

on-farm market in 1983 but after
about 10 years, 5 children and grow-
ing potato farm they had to focus
their efforts on other projects. A few
decades later, their children thought
it would be a good idea to open the
market to the public once again.
They have done an outstanding job
and take every opportunity to give
back to the direct farm marketing
industry whenever they can.

Karen Whitty, 13th Street Winery & Whitty Farms presents the Outstanding
On-Farm Market Award to Hollis, Secord and Calder from Murphy’s.

2018 Outstanding Participation

Award
Raymond and Diane Janssens

The Janssens have participated in

every overnight bus tour that OFFMA
has offered since 1988. They are
usually the first ones to submit their
registrations as well.
Ray and Diane actively participate in
the tours as well as many workshops
over the years. Congratulations on
this award.
Leslie Forsythe, Forsythe Family Farm presents the Outstanding
Participation Award to Raymond and Diane Janssens.

The Silent Auction 2018 Friends of OFFMA Award

during the Awards of Foodland Ontario
Excellence Banquet
raised $1125.00 for Ever since Denise Zaborowski took
the OFFMA Family over the helm at Foodland Ontario
Fund. a positive relationship started to
grow between OFFMA and
Foodland.
Thanks to Wellington
For the last ten years, OFFMA has
Produce Packaging worked closely with Foodland to
for their sponsorship create awareness, promote and
of the auction. recognize the farms and farmers
Thanks to everyone who produce some of the best
who donated and par- foods in the world. Thanks
ticipated. Foodland!
Cathy Bartolic, OFFMA presents the Friends of OFFMA
Award to Denise Zaborowski from Foodland Ontario.
Page 8 Fresh Facts

Getting More Out of Your Bookkeeping Software

By Jessica Kelly, Direct Farm Marketing Specialist, OMAFRA

In case you missed the session at this year’s Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Conven-
tion, I thought I’d share some key highlights about Getting More Out of Your
Bookkeeping Software. We were fortunate to have Maggie Kurz from RLB Charted
Professional Accountants and Richard Kuntz from Farm Credit Canada to share their
tips for using Quickbooks and AgExpert, respectively.

Richard reminded us just how important strong accounting records are. According to
the Agri-food Management Institute’s (AMI) 2015 Dollars and Sense report, using
detailed and up-to-date accounting reports to make decisions is one of the top two
drivers of farm financial success:
Impact
Management Activity
Score
Propensity to Learn and Improve 1.0
Business Decisions Made Using Detailed, Up-to-Date Accounting 0.89
Reports
Use of Professional Farm Business Advisors 0.89

Isn’t it more work to created detailed accounting reports?

Setting up the chart of accounts is key to having accounting reports that provide the
information you need for decision-making. Sure, the initial set-up might take some
more time and thought, but it doesn’t take more time day-to-day and your future self
will thank you when trying to make decisions! AgExpert is pre-populated with ac-
counts commonly used by farmers, but you will still want to ensure that the accounts
make sense for your operation. Revenue accounts should be detailed and then can
be categorized at a higher level to reduce clutter. For example, in Maggie’s example
below, there are individual accounts for each crop grown or re-sold, but then higher
level categories for produce and commodities resold. Similarly, if you sell product at
both the farm-gate and farmers’ markets, it would be prudent to track these sales
separately.

Expenses should also be very detailed and structured in a manner that align with
your revenues. For example, if sales are recorded by crop, so too should seed costs
(see Maggie’s example below). If sales are tracked separately for on-farm and farm-
ers’ markets, wage costs should be tracked separately as well.
 Newsletter #328 Page 9

Bookkeeping always seems to fall down my to-do list. Any tips for staying up-to-date?
Maggie suggested that one of the best strategies for avoiding mistakes or falling behind is to gen-
erate processes to follow, such as a month-end checklist. Your month-end checklist will be unique
to your farm, but here’s a starting point:
 Is the bank reconciled? Are there any stale dated cheques?
 Are credit cards/lines of credit/loans being reconciled?
 Review the Aged Accounts Receivable and Aged Accounts Payable reports for accuracy.
 Review government remittances – HST/Payroll/Corporate taxes – are they entered and
cleared properly?
 Review the Fixed Asset accounts for items that should be expensed.
 Review Expenses for larger purchases (capital) items that should be setup as assets.
 Run a comparative Profit & Loss report by month and look for any big changes from the pre-
vious period to current.
And remember, just like with any technology or tool, the information out is only as good as the in-
formation going in!
Page 10 Fresh Facts
A synopsis of Bill 148
In early February, OFFMA hosted a webinar about Bill 148 and how it would
affect farm workers. The webinar is on the OFFMA website but here is a synop-
sis of what was discussed. It is strongly recommended that you talk to your ac-
countant about this bill and how it will affect your business.
Agriculture—Special Rule for Entitlement and Exemptions
Type of Work
Farm Employees
Work on a farm growing or
producing eggs, milk, grain,
seeds, fruit, vegetables,
mushrooms, maple prod-
ucts, honey, tobacco, herbs,
pigs, cattle, sheep, goats,
poultry, deer, elk, ratites,
bison, rabbits, game birds,
wild boar and cultured fish.
Fruit, Vegetable and Tobac-
co Harvesters
This does not apply to you if
you work on a farm growing
or producing eggs, milk,
grain, seeds, fruit, vegeta-
bles, mushrooms, maple
products, honey, tobacco,
herbs, pigs, cattle, sheep,
goats, poultry, deer, elk,
ratites, bison, rabbits, game
birds, wild boar and cultured
fish.
It does apply if you work on
a farm harvesting fruit, veg-
etables or tobacco for
wholesale, retail sale or
storage.
Flower Growers Work in
growing flowers for whole-
sale and retail sale.
Entitlement Exemptions or Special Rule
You are entitled to: You are not entitled to:
• personal emergency • minimum wage
leave • hours of work
• notice of termina- • daily rest periods
tion/termination pay • time off between
• severance pay shifts
• weekly/bi-weekly rest
periods
• eating periods
• overtime
• public holidays
• vacation with pay
You are entitled to: You are not entitled to:
• personal emergency • hours of work
leave • daily rest periods
• notice of termina- • time off between
tion/termination pay shifts
• severance pay • weekly/bi-weekly rest
periods
• eating periods
• overtime
• public holidays and
public holiday pay if
you work for the same
employer for at least
13 consecutive
weeks
You are entitled to: You are not entitled to:
• minimum wage • hours of work
• personal emergency • daily rest periods
leave • time off between
• vacation with pay shifts
• notice of termina- • Weekly/bi-weekly
tion/termination pay rest periods
• severance pay • Eating periods
• Overtime
• Public holidays
 Newsletter #328 Page 11

Type of Work Entitlement Exemptions or Special Rule

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable You are entitled to: You are entitled to:
Processors • minimum wage • overtime pay for
• hours of work each hour worked
If you are a seasonal em- • daily rest periods over 50 hours in a
ployee and work in the can- • time off between work week
ning, processing, packing shifts
or distribution of fresh fruit • weekly/bi-weekly
or vegetables. rest periods
• eating periods
• personal emergency
leave
• public holidays
• Vacation with pay
• notice of termina-
tion/termination pay
• severance pay
Tree and Shrub Growers You are entitled to: You are not entitled to:
• minimum wage • hours of work
• personal emergency • daily rest periods
leave • time off between
• vacation with pay shifts
• notice of termina- • weekly/bi-weekly
tion/termination pay rest periods
• severance pay • eating periods
• overtime
• public holidays
 Page 12
Ontario Farm Fresh
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director
2002 Vandorf Rd. Aurora, ON L4G 7B9
Phone: 905-841-9278
E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com
www.ontariofarmfresh.com
2018-19 OFFMA Board of Directors
Steve Martin, President
Martin’s Family Fruit Farm
Kristin Ego MacPhail, Vice President
Ego Nurseries Ltd.
Leslie Forsythe, Past President
Forsythe Family Farms
Paul Baxter, Associate Member
Baxter’s Kitchen
Nicole Judge, Spirit Tree Estate Cidery
Erin McLean, McLean Berry Farm
Colleen McKay, Your Farm Market
Jordan McKay, Willowtree Farm
Dana Thatcher, Thatcher Farms
Karen Whitty, Whitty Farms
Jessica Kelly, OMAFRA Advisor
Fresh Facts
Upcoming Events
July 30 OFFMA’s Annual Potluck at Brantview Apples and Cider, St. George
Early Nov. Rural Retreat—Opportunity for OFFMA members to re-charge
Now Accepting Applications for the
2018 Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence Program!
Have you developed and implemented a unique product or process that helps foster
innovation in Ontario’s agriculture and food sector? If so, you could be eligible
to receive one of the following awards from the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Inno-
vation 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 are invited to
apply.
Additional information is available online at www.ontario.ca/agrifoodinnovation or by
phone at 1-877-424-1300.
Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 25, 2018.