Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

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

Newsletter #337
June 2019
Volume 35, Number 4

Inside this issue:

‘Ask the Expert’ Schedule Membership News 2

Ideas to 3
Date Topic Presenter consider...

April 15 Strategies & Tips on Colleen McKay African Swine Fever 4

Successful Seasonal Hiring It’s not a speech, 5
it’s a conversation
May 27 Saving Time in the Scratch Amy Strom
Bakery Legal Expense
Insurance
6

June 17 Weddings on the Farm Angela Grant

Upcoming Events 8
Saunders
July 15 To be determined
August 19 Why PYO Apples? Stephanie/Matt
Passafiume
Sept. 16 Running a Seasonal Busi- Shirley Fulton
ness Successfully.
October Tips on Promoting your Fall Sue Gammond
21 activities on the Farm
November To be determined
Dec. 16 How to Decide on Activities Chris Hiemstra
to Add to your Farm? The OFFMA
A new learning opportunity, accessible to all OFFMA members regardless of their Office
geographic location. Ask the Expert is a series of one hour presentations done by will be
farm retailers for farm retailers on Facebook Live.
To find the recorded session, go to OFFMA’s members only Facebook page
closed from
(Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association) and click on the videos tab. July 15 to 22
Ask the Expert series will take place on the third Monday of each month at 8pm. for a summer
It’s worth having a Facebook Account so you can be part of this learning experi- break
ence. Don’t forget you need to ask to join this closed group, so don’t leave it for
the last minute.
 Page 2 Fresh Facts

MEMBERSHIP NEWS New Members

Classifieds
FOR SALE
2L and 4L plastic baskets, made in
Canada, sturdy handles, strong dura-
ble plastic, weatherproof, reliable
delivery, competitive pricing
www.shouldicefarm.com
shouldice1@bell.net, 613-838-4203
FOR SALE
Walk-in cooler components (coil,
compressor, gas and controls) 3 hp.
$1200
Commercial waffle maker $300
Please call Tom at 905-691-8423
A big shout out to ……….
Katharina von Hugo
Breslau Farm, Breslau, ON
519-648-2686, www.breslaufarm.ca
Breslau Farm is a small-scale, family
farm. Their goal is to provide local fami-
lies with ethically-raised animal products
and produce of the highest quality.
They raise their chickens on fresh grass,
following their cattle in their pasture
rotation. They raise an old French breed
of duck called the Rouen as well as a
heritage breed cow, the Belted Galloway
on pasture. They grow over 50 different
varieties of vegetables which are season-
ally available at their farm store.

FOR SALE Congratulations to

Delhaven Orchards Ltd.
Frozen pitted sour cherries available Burnham Family Farm Market
for wholesale & retail
519-676-4475 On May 25th,
delhaven@ciaccess.com Burnham
Family Farm
FOR SALE Market cele-
Frozen Strawberries and Frozen brated their
Raspberries-Enjoy Ontario local ber- 25th year in
ries all year round. Berries have been business in
frozen on trays and packaged. Great Cobourg.
for smoothies, baking, jam, jellies, This family
and fruit wines. For more information owned and
call Potters Road Berries 519-842- operated
2723 or nverbruggen@nor-del.com. business is a
landmark in
FOR SALE Northumber-
Fruit Trees from Silver Creek land that
Nursery—not your ordinary nursery! opens every
Unique fruit varieties for your PYO, year, from
organic orchard and cider blends. Ask May 1st to December 23rd. Their locally
us about retailing our potted trees at produced farm fresh fruit and vegetables
your location. Call 519-804-6060 or and Bakery that offers fresh baked goods
email steph@silvercreeknursery.ca and their Ice Cream Parlour treats. Here’s
to the next 25 years.

Farintosh Farms Closing

After much deliberation and soul searching, Karen and Guy have decided to retire from the on-farm mar-
ket and Pick Your Own business. Their farm in Stouffville will now be permanently closed to the public.
The farm has not been sold, and Guy will continue to grow many crops for what we all hope will be many
years to come. They are both looking forward to taking a break and undertaking some new activities and
challenges.
In the final post on their Facebook page, Guy thanked his customers and farming neighbours but also his
father, who facilitated and inspired a city kid to be a farmer when he grew up. Guy feels he has led a
charmed life to have had so much fun doing what he loves, all the while feeling that it made a difference
in so many lives for the last 46 years.
Wishing all the best to Karen and Guy as they start this new chapter in their lives.
 Newsletter #336 Page 3

Ideas to consider……. Winery Experiences

Want to see your farm on the big screen?
Film can be big business. If you are interest-
ed in your farm being available to be used
as a filming location it is recommended you
add your property onto the Ontario Creates
database. Simply go to
www.OntarioCreates.ca, click on Film & TV
and then locations and go into the section
"Register Your Property" and fill out the
application. Once you are accepted you
can register your property and download
photos onto the site. This is then available
to all the film location scouts in Ontario.
We’ll see you at the movies.
BC Wineries are developing creative experi-
ences to bring people to their businesses.
The Half Crooked Marathon is a signature
annual event that is part of the Oliver
Osoyoos wine community. It takes runners
over rolling hills, along lush riverbeds and
across scrubby desert terrain all in the
name of wine tasting with a twist. Since it
is not your standard race, runners are en-
couraged to dress in outlandish costumes
for prizes for the most creative.
View Winery in Kelowna offers ‘Slip and
Sip” snowshoeing tours through the vine-
yard in the winter and ‘Wine and Wags’
hikes in the fall for guests who want to tour
the vineyards with their four legged friends.

Thinking outside the barrel

Burgundy Oak.com has found a new use for all those oak wine barrels that the wineries no longer want. They make
creative end tables and trays that you may have seen in the past but most recently they have started cutting them up
into one to two inch pieces and packaging them up to sell as wine barrel wood chips for your bbq. According to their
website, you can cure your craving for smoked food by using Wine Barrel wood chips on your next BBQ or Smoke ses-
sion. Wine barrel wood chips provide a medium-strong smoke flavour with an amazing aroma and sweet wine finish.
Cut from British Columbia wine barrels, each cube is coated with rich red wine crystals, sugars, and flavours that will
take your mouth on a joyride through wine country.
Page 4 Fresh Facts
African Swine Fever – Everyone Has a Role to Play
By: Jessica Kelly, Direct Farm Marketing Specialist, OMAFRA
It’s not com-
mon to see
the global
swine industry
discussed on
media plat-
forms such as
Bloomberg,
CBC, Reu-
ters, and
BBC. Yet,
that’s exactly
what we’re seeing as a result of the
devastation of African Swine Fever
(ASF) in China.
China is home to more than half of
the world’s pig population and is the
world’s largest consumer of pork. Ra-
bobank has forecast that China’s pork
output could fall by 30 percent this
year, which would have significant im-
plications for global commodity mar-
kets.
ASF is caused by a very contagious
virus that is killing pigs and wild boars
in Africa, Asia and parts of Europe.
No vaccine or treatment is currently
available. ASF does not affect human
health or food safety. Although hu-
mans cannot be infected with ASF,
they are the most likely source of in-
troducing the virus into Canada. An
outbreak in Canada would have a sig-
nificant economic impact on the coun-
try and the Canadian pork industry.
African swine fever has never been
found in Canada. Here are a few tips
to keep it that way — let’s all do our
part!
If you dispose of food waste (e.g.,
compost) on your property:
 Be wary of where you dispose of
your food waste so other ani-
mals, including wild boars, do
not have access to it.
If you’re travelling:
 When you travel, never bring
back meat or pork products into
Canada. The virus can survive
in fresh pork and processed pork
products including cured, air
dried, salted or smoked prod-
ucts.
 Wash all clothing and footwear
immediately after use in other
countries. Even better, if you
visit a farm or animals, don’t
bring these clothing and foot-
wear back to Canada!
If you have pigs on your farm:
 Do not feed meat products to
pigs; this is prohibited in Cana-
da.
 If you feed your pigs fruit and
vegetables, make sure they
have never entered a kitchen or
been in contact with meat or
products of animal origin.
 Take precautions to ensure that
your pigs never come into con-
tact with wild pigs.
If guests on your farm have access
to the pigs on your farm:
 Take precautions to ensure that
visitors are not feeding your
pigs.
 Take precautions to prevent con-
tact between your animals and
visitors who are returning from
affected countries.
Everyone has a role to play to prevent
ASF from being introduced into Cana-
da.
Note: Much of the information in this
article was compiled from resources
prepared by the Canadian Pork Coun-
cil and the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency.

It’s Not a Speech, It’s a Conversation
By Gary Johnson, OFFMA Membership Coordinator
You are a farmer. You are in the direct
farm marketing business. A local
group (horticultural, business, com-
munity) have invited you to speak
about local food and your business at
their next meeting. What a great op-
portunity to promote your farm busi-
ness and attract potential new cus-
tomers!
You are hesitant and not all that com-
fortable in speaking to a large audi-
ence. What do you do? Relax, the eas-
iest topic for a presentation is to talk
about yourself and your business, be-
cause this is what you do and know.
You are the expert on this topic.
Write down a few talking points just
as reminders or better still put to-
gether a power point presentation
that illustrates what you are talking
about. Ask for a podium to put your
notes on. Ask the group if they have a
sound system and a microphone. The
rooms, groups hold their meetings,
are often notorious for bad acoustics.
Once you have the basics laid out,
practice, practice and practice some
more. If you are prepared, the rest if
easy.
Make no apologies about not being a
good speaker. The audience in front
of you is here to listen to you.
Don’t set yourself up for failure with
disclaimers. Any spoken self-doubts
about your merits as a speaker auto-
matically undermine your presenta-
tion. Remember this is a conversation
just as if you were talking with the
The 2019 Local Food Report is out. A look at what is happening in
Ontario around local food. It can be found at
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/about/local_food_rpt18.htm
Newsletter #336 Page 5
equipment dealer down the road. It is
an audience that wants to hear from
you.
At the beginning of the presentation,
ask the audience for a show hands as
to who has visited your farm.
If there a few hands, you can say “it’s
a good thing I’m here to tell you all
about the farm”. If there are a lot of
hands, you can say “that’s great and
now I can give you more detail as to
what goes on”. This opening exercise
is great way to warm up the audience
and break down the distance between
the audience and you. Any time you
can include a participatory exercise,
do so. It brings more meaning to the
audience.
In any presentation, talk about your
family and your background and how
it came about that you got into direct
farm marketing. Make it personal.
People are there to listen to your sto-
ry. You can get into talking about how
you have built your business, the suc-
cesses, and the failures. Throw in an-
ecdotes or interesting stories around
the growth of your business. Talk
about the merits of local food. Talk
about what you offer to the public on
your farm. This is great advertisement
opportunity.
At the end of the presentation, ask for
questions from the audience. This is
an opportunity to add more detail to
what you presented. When questions
flag, indicate that you will be around
to talk further to anyone during the
food service at the back of the hall.
Page 6 Fresh Facts

Legal Expense Insurance and Agricultural Workers

By Mike Whittamore, Darling Insurance
There is a critical shortage of Canadians willing to work on farms in Canada
and that shortage is increasing. The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Pro-
gram (SAWP) as part of the Temporary Work Program (TWP) is a key
source of labour in the Canadian fruit and vegetable industry. The Confer-
ence Board of Canada estimates the SAWP contributes $2.3 billion to On-
tario’s GDP and an additional 35,026 Canadian jobs (Jan 2019). In Ontario,
Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services (FARMS) facilitates
and coordinates the processing of requests for seasonal agricultural work-
ers. FARMS services 1,500 farms that bring in 20,000 foreign workers.
Across Canada there are approximately 50,000 seasonal foreign agricultural
workers brought in through various programs.

In the past 3 years there has been an increase in the number of cases of
foreign agricultural workers filing Human Rights claims before the Human
Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO). The workers tend to seek remedy
through the HRTO rather than the courts. FARMS reported in 2018 their
office received 5 –10 calls from farmers seeking direction on where to get
legal advice on these types of HR related issues.

The common theme in two cases I studied showed the worker was initially
physically injured. WSIB and in some cases the worker’s home country
Consulate worked with the farmer to design a modified work schedule. The
worker refused modified work to the point where the liaison officer from the
Consulate became so frustrated they instructed the farmer to terminate the
work contract and send the worker home. In both cases the workers could
not be located, failed to return home, remained in Canada illegally, sought
free legal counsel and subsequently filed a human rights claim for racism
with one farmer and injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect with the other
farmer.

These cases have been dragging on now for more than 2 years. The lawyer
retained by one farmer said, ”you will lose before the HRTO, it’s just a case
of how much.” Human Rights Tribunal cases actually settle for relatively
small amounts. Between 2006 and 2016, in British Columbia, 50% of Hu-
man Rights Tribunal cases settled for $5,000 or less and less than 20%
were more than $10,000. HRTO is pushing hard for early mediation to re-
duce the number of cases that go before the Tribunal. Significant legal fees
can result in these cases.

According to a DAS Canada white paper (May 2018), the following statistics
reflect the SMB environment in Canada.

 There are 1.2 million businesses in Canada with 1-99 employees.

 504,000 SMB owners have dealt with a legal dispute in the course of
doing business.
 73% have not set aside any kind of budget for legal expenses.
 Employment disputes is one of the top three reasons SMB owners
 Newsletter #336 Page 7

face legal costs.

 In a survey of owners, once the core benefits of Legal Expense In-
surance (LEI) were explained, 58% or respondents said they would
buy it.

While LEI is available in the Canadian marketplace, adoption in the agri-

cultural sector is minimal. It appears adoption in SMB in Canada is rela-
tively low as well. According to Insurance Business Canada (December
2018), premiums for this line have grown from $5M to $67M between
2010 and 2017. They also noted this product is currently going through
an educational phase with insurance distributors and consumers/business
owners. Barbara Haynes, president of DAS Canada, estimates a $500M
opportunity exists in Canada based on per capita spend in Europe where
the LEI market is more mature. (CIP Society March 2018)

I have primarily focused on HR related issues in agriculture but like any

business, there are potentially a host of scenarios where legal expense
insurance would be of benefit to farm businesses. Non-insured claims
scenarios will be a key component in marketing and raising the adoption
rate in the agricultural business community and other industries too. The
HR landscape is changing rapidly and our society is becoming more liti-
gious. We live in an aggrieved society today and businesses in Canada
with employees need to protect themselves.

Addendum 1
Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program Ontario
Number of Migrant Workers 18,000
Number of Farms with Migrant 1,450
Workers
Number of Workers / Farm 12.4
Number of Months in Canada 5
Types of Farms (largest acreage) Apples, Grapes, Blueberries,
Types of Farms (other) Various fruits and vegetables (100+)

Work duties include:

Trellising Pruning
Rock picking Planting/seeding
Irrigation set-up and maintenance Hoeing
Weeding Thinning
Harvesting Plastic removal/management

All of the work duties are physically demanding and minor physical inju-
ries and repetitive strain injuries can result. Agriculture falls under The
Occupational Health and Safety Act. Workplace Safety and Prevention
Services are a strong partner in providing safety training on the farm.
 Page 8
Ontario Farm Fresh
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director
PO Box 250 Gormley Post Office
Gormley, ON L0H 1G0
Ph: 905-506-0371 Fax: 647-556-7254
E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com
www.ontariofarmfresh.com
2019-20 OFFMA Board of Directors
Kristin Ego MacPhail, President
Ego Nurseries Ltd.
Steve Martin, Past President
Martin’s Family Fruit Farm
Erin McLean, Vice President
McLean Berry Farm
Paul Baxter, Associate Member
Baxter’s Kitchen
Darlene Downey, Downey’s Farm Market
& Estate Winery
Colleen McKay, Your Farm Market
Jordan McKay, Willowtree Farm
Meghan Snyder, Snyder’s Family Farm
Shane Van Casteren, Nicholyn Farms
Karen Whitty, Whitty Farms
Jessica Kelly, OMAFRA Advisor
Fresh Facts
Upcoming Events
Various dates Ask the Expert Facebook Webinar—see front page for details.
July 30 Annual Potluck at Downey’s Farm Market and Estate Winery
Nov. OFFMA’s Bus Tour to Nashville, details will follow the scouting tour.
Gilbert Francis Whittamore
1922– 2019
On May 19, one of the pioneers of the PYO industry
in Ontario passed away. Gib Whittamore was in his
98 when he passed peacefully in Markham. Gib was
an only child growing up in what is now known as
Richmond Hill. His father was a market gardener
and Gib followed in his shoes by attending the Uni-
versity of Guelph. In 1952, Gib and his parents pur-
chased a 50 acre farm at Steeles and 11th Line in
Cedar Grove. In 1956, in a bid to salvage a strawberry crop, Gib took a risk
and opened his farm to the public to allow them to pick their own strawberries.
The response was overwhelming as thousands came from the suburbs to
make Whittamore’s a destination for over 60 years.
Gib married Evelyn Lapp and they raised 4 children; David, Katherine, Mi-
chael and Frank. In the last decade it was a Mike and Frank who were pro-
ducer and marketer respectively, grew the operation to a significant size. Alt-
hough Whittamore Farm closed its doors in 2017, it is still a very recognizable
name in the direct farm marketing industry in Ontario.
Thanks for showing the rest of us the way, Gib. Here’s to a life well lived.