Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

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

A word from the President- Newsletter #327

February-March
As winter creeps along to its hopefully inevitable end, I can imagine many of you 2018
Volume 34, Number 2
hunkered over your desks making plans for the coming year.
You are leafing through seed catalogues, sweating through the new human re-
sources legislation, planning hiring strategies, coming up with business plans
and safety plans, and marketing plans and ….well, I think you get the picture. It Inside this issue:
just never seems to end.
There are simply a lot of items that need to be checked off before you can begin
another season. And if you are like me you quickly come to the conclusion that
Membership News 2
you simply do not have all the answers or information you need to make the Interview with the 4
Whittamores
needed decisions.
Take comfort in the fact that you are not alone. Nobody, not even the smartest Food Literacy: 6
people on the planet are experts in everything. Now, granted, Mr. Google really Where are we at?

does come in handy. The guy seems to know a lot. But there are times when More Money for 7
he can actually become a bit contradictory in the knowledge he dispenses and Farmers with
Business Manage-
when that happens you hardly know what to believe anymore. Other times he ment
puts out so much information and says it in a way that is really hard to under- Upcoming Events 8
stand, so that by the time you are done researching what he has to say you are
almost worst off than when you started.
May I suggest that OFFMA may be able to help. Our newsletters have a wealth
of information in them. Hopefully you keep your back issues because over the
years there have been many good articles. Also you should be taking ad-
vantage of the numerous seminars and webinars that OFFMA puts on through-
out the year.
Many of you, but not nearly all of you, are part of our Members Only Facebook
group. I am always amazed at how quickly good answers and solutions are
coming for the very real problems our members post on there.
The networking opportunities that OFFMA offers are truly wonderful and in my
mind are one of the primary benefits you get from your membership. You very
quickly discover that you are not alone in any of your problems and there are
good people out there willing to help.

Happy strategizing and planning. The OFFMA Members Only Facebook page has
been very active. It is a great source of information
and inspiration.
If you aren’t already—get plugged in.
Search for the full name ‘Ontario Farm Fresh Mar-
Steve Martin keting Association’ and send a request to join. A
OFFMA President great place to share ideas, post items you may
have for sale and/or are looking for, for your farm
business.
Page 2 Fresh Facts
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Welcome to our new Members
Mike & Marion Janssens
Janssens Orchards
Odessa, ON 613-650-7772
www.janssensorchards.com
Janssen Orchards production methods
are in keeping with their environmental
beliefs. Drawing from over 30 years of
gardening and farming experience they
are showing how smaller acreage
farms can be environmentally responsi-
ble while providing a living income for
their family.
They currently have 1-2 acres of inten-
sively managed garden beds where
they grow a variety of annual crops for
their customers. Mike & Marion also
grow a variety of perennials such as
fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, vines,
shrubs, etc.
Rob & Maryjo Tait
Celtic Ridge Farms
Dutton, ON 519-282-7602
www.celticridgefarms.com
Rob & Maryjo’s philosophy is to
raise pure and natural beef and lamb,
without additives or growth hormones.
Their animals are raised on a vegeta-
tion diet, which means they frequent
pasture grasses and hay.
The naturally raised beef diet is al-
so complemented by high quality corn.
The Celtic Ridge Farms goal is to con-
duct sustainable livestock growth
through a free choice feed system, and
to select the best quality beef and lamb
for their family and their customers.
Associate Member
Sheila Hannon
Georgian Bay Granola Company
Parry Sound, ON 705-774-8766
sheila@georgianbaygranola
company.ca
Sheila Hannon’s Granolas are oven
baked using natural and organic ingre-
dients and are gently sweetened with
pure Canadian maple syrup, Ontario
wildflower honey or organic coconut
nectar. Sheila started GBGC in a small
summer market in Parry Sound On-
tario in July of 2012 and now her
products are available in many loca-
tions across Ontario. She feels her
granola products are a great fit for on-
farm markets. She has four kinds of
Granola..... Sugar Bush Maple, Apple
Blueberry Crisp, Wildflower Honey
Bee Crunch, and Coconut Mango
Bliss. Give her a call if you are inter-
ested in carrying granola in your mar-
ket.
Classifieds
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 de-
livery. www.shouldicefarm.com
Contact: shouldice1@bell.net,
This is YOUR newsletter. Help to
make it informative and relevant.
We are always looking for article
contributions. If you are not com-
fortable writing, send us your news
or suggest topics that should be
covered and we can take it from
there.

A special mention has to go to Stroud
Farms. On January 3rd, the OFFMA
office mailed out the 2018 member-
ship invoices. On January 5, the OFF-
MA office received Len Stroud’s
cheque in the mail. Wow, were we im-
pressed. Not sure how Len did it but
he must have sent his membership
cheque out the same day he received
it. Who says the postal system doesn’t
work any more! Thank you Len.
We have received membership fees
from over 150 of our members but
there are still many who have not re-
newed. To those who have, a heartfelt
thank you for your support. To those
who have not, please send in your
cheque or call the office with your
credit card information in the next
week so we can move onto program-
ming other exciting opportunities for
2018.
Newsletter #327 Page 3
THANK YOU
to
Dominion and Grimm
For their donation of $954.72 to Ontario
Farm Fresh. Dominion and Grimm rebate a
portion of all their glass jar sales made to
OFFMA members. If you are purchasing
glass products for your business, consider
Dominion and Grimm as your primary sup-
plier.
Mark Your Calendar
Clearing Auction Sale
Saturday, April 21 at 10:00 a.m.
for Orchalaw Farms
9726 Heritage Road, Brampton
Complete listing of items to be auctioned is in-
cluded with this newsletter. Listing can also be
found on their website at
www.orchalawfarms.com
Page 4 Fresh Facts

An Interview with Frank & Suzanne Whittamore

after Closing their Business
The Whittamore’s have been active OFFMA members since 1985. They
have supported the direct farm marketing industry in many ways; Frank
was on the OFFMA Board as well as OFFMA president. They offered their
farm for tours and potluck meetings and were ready to lend a helping hand
whenever needed. Their farm market started in 1956 by selling PYO straw-
berries from the field. Frank officially joined the business when he finished
school in the 80’s followed by Suzanne when they were married. Many
people were surprised when they announced in early 2017 that they were
closing their gates to the public at the end of the year. After so many years
of running a successful business we had to pick their brains to find out how
they got to where they are now.

DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS:

We’re a 330-acre fruit and vegetable farm, located in Markham on the out-
skirts of Toronto. Our family has worked the same land for over 200 years.
We operated a Pick-Your-Own, Farm Shop, Paid Admission Fun Farm as
well as hosting School Tours, Summer Camps and Birthday Parties. Be-
tween all of these businesses we employed approximately 120 seasonal
employees and 4 full time managers. We welcomed nearly 300,000 cus-
tomers annually from May until October 31st.

FRANK – RESPONSIBILITIES
- Building and maintenance
- Setting up tent structures
- Retail portion of fruits and vegetables which included 2-3 visits a week
to the Ontario Food Terminal
- Overseeing the operations of the Fun Farm Yard and growing 25
acres of sweet corn
- Customer flow and crowd logistics

SUZANNE - RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Employees (70+) including 3 Managers
- Screening, Hiring (& terminations), Human Resources, Employee &
Manager’s Job Descriptions & Reviews, Managing all Duties and
Responsibilities of Employees
- Farm Shop – Bakery, Retail (does not include Produce), Snack
Shack, Birthday Parties, School Tours
- Office Administration – including Revenue Canada, Workers Comp,
Ministry of Labour
- Accounting – Cheques, Payroll, Banking, Money
- Advertising Needs – Social Media
- My strength is being an organized person

DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY – SUZANNE:

- They vary throughout the season
- Winter months were spent preparing for the upcoming season
 Newsletter #327 Page 5

- Screening new hires

- Prepared tasks and timelines for when Managers started back
mid-February

DURING OPERATING SEASON - SUZANNE:

- Daily alarm around 5:30 am
- Work daily including all weekends
- Emails are checked before opening the farm shop
- Oversaw the coordination of daily baking
- Monday’s – Inventory and orders (however I did not place the
orders)
- Tuesday through Thursday – Manager’s Day off – I often re-
placed them
- Friday – getting ready for the weekend
- Saturday and Sunday – managed and counted tills
- Often had to assist with baking
- Daily office administration
- Managed the family home

DURING OPERATING SEASON – FRANK:

- There is no typical day
- Daily alarm around 5:30 am – however 2-3 mornings up at 1:00
am for a trip to the terminal
- Managed Crack of Dawn Report on a daily basis including any
website updates
- Check emails
- Record produce inventory Monday’s and Thursday’s in prepara-
tion of going to the terminal
- Placed produce orders
- Unloading truck from terminal – took several morning hours
- Sweet corn production throughout the season
- Repair, maintenance of grounds and building of new activities

WHAT PERCENT WAS ON HANDS ON:

- 100% - hands on operators
- We developed all the processes – we delegate some of the
tasks to our Managers however oversaw everything
- Managers were responsible for Social Media, Suzanne coordi-
nated all other advertising during the winter months
- Dealing with issues as they relate to customers – our Managers
- Dealing with staff issues, depending on the level – our Senior
Manager and Suzanne
- We might be accused of micro-managing and that’s all right, we
wanted things done in certain ways. If the managers weren’t
doing it, we would do it, but we recognize there is a balance.
We’re both doers.
This is only the beginning. The complete interview can be found on the
OFFMA website under the members only section. If you don’t recall your
username, just drop a note to the OFFMA office.
 Page 6 Fresh Facts

Food Literacy: Where are we at?

By Jessica Kelly, Direct Farm Marketing Specialist, OMAFRA
Food literacy – it’s a term we hear lots about, but it’s a multi-faceted concept
and can be tricky to measure or benchmark. That’s exactly what the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture (OFA) set out to do from October 2016 to May
2017 with focus groups and a survey. Their research covered a range of
areas, including measuring knowledge, attitude & awareness of local food,
food literacy, food production, food access, food purchasing and prepara-
tion, and Ontario agricultural practices. Three target consumer groups were
focused on: parents with kids at home, early millennials, and teenagers.

Here are some figures that stood out to me:

Parents with Kids at Early Millennials Teenagers
Home (Aged 18-26) (Aged 13-17)
Less than 50% know the safe Less than 40% know the Less than 50% regularly
cooking temperatures for a price of staple food prod- prepare their own lunches
variety of meat/poultry items. ucts. for school.

34% spend 15-30 minutes
preparing meals during the
week – most common recipes
include healthy, quick and
easy and those with fresh in-
gredients.
Over 50% use YouTube Only 28% know how to
videos as a source for plan and prepare a quick
learning new information health meal using only the
and cooking skills, yet food that is already availa-
when showed a video vi- ble in the household.
gnette about farming prac-
tices, they were the most
skeptical about the video
and its authenticity.

Across all three groups…

All respondents are more comfortable cooking or baking with pre-mixed
packages than cooking or baking from scratch.
Seeking out locally grown or produced food products occurs more fre-
quently than seeking out organic, sustainable or GMO-free food prod-
ucts.
Nearly 25% of all respondents knew NONE of the food groups.

Perhaps you were shocked (I know I was!), surprised or disappointed in

these results. Perhaps in these numbers you see an accurate reflection of
your clientele and you were unsurprised. Regardless of your initial reaction,
I hope in these numbers you also see opportunity -- opportunity to educate
customers, opportunity for new product offerings or market strategies, and
opportunity to raise the bar in food literacy in Ontario.

You can read the full report here: https://ofa.on.ca/resources/food-literacy-

attitude-awareness-research-report/

More Money for Farmers with Business Management, Study Says
Ground-breaking research has identi-
fied the top seven habits of Canada’s
best farmers and for the first time, es-
tablished a direct link between farm
business management planning and
higher farm income and profitability.
The Dollars and Sense study, commis-
sioned by Agri-Food Management In-
stitute (AMI) and Farm Management
Canada, included 604 farms of all
types and sizes and farmers of all ag-
es nationwide in the grains and
oilseeds, beef, hogs, poultry and eggs,
dairy, and horticulture sectors, and
was completed by Ipsos Ag and Ani-
mal Health.
WHAT’S THE IMPACT ON THE BOT-
TOM LINE?
According to study results, leading Ca-
nadian farm businesses in the top 25
per cent financially out-perform those
in the bottom 25 per cent by a wide
margin: 525 per cent increase in Re-
turn on Assets (ROA), 155 per cent
increase in Gross Margin Ratio, and
100 per cent increases in Return on
Equity (ROE) and Asset Turnover.
Farms of all types and across all re-
gions, sectors, farm sizes and age
groups were found in the top 25 per
cent of farm businesses.
TOP SEVEN HABITS OF CANADA’S
BEST FARMERS
The Dollars and Sense study clearly
identified seven key habits that directly
contribute to higher income and im-
proved profitability:
Continuous learning was identified in
the study as the most significant driver
of farm financial success with farms in
the bottom 25 per cent being three
times more likely to not seek out new
information, training or learning oppor-
tunities.
Using accurate financial data in
business decision-making ranked in
second spot. Farms in the bottom
quartile are three times more likely to
Newsletter #327 Page 7
have financial rec-
ords that are
months behind and
are not being used
on a regular basis
for decision-
making. They’re
also almost three
times more likely
not to monitor their cost of production.
Seeking the help of business advi-
sors or consultants rounded out the
top three business habits, with farms in
the top quartile 30 per cent more likely
to work regularly with a trusted farm
business advisor or team of advisors.
Four other drivers that also ranked fair-
ly highly in the survey results:
 having a formal business plan in
place
 knowing and monitoring cost of
production
 assessing and managing risk
 using budgets and financial plans
HOW CAN I GET STARTED?
Jumping into all seven activities at
once could prove overwhelming —
even doing one can make a difference
in your farm business. Here are re-
sources that can help you get started:
Pledge to Plan — A helpful website
that outlines business management
activities you can do each season, pro-
vides support tools and shares stories
of producers who’ve already gone
through the process.
www.pledgetoplan.ca
AMI resources and tools related to
farm business management are availa-
ble at www.takeanewapproach.ca or
by calling 519-822-6618.
A GOAL WITHOUT A
PLAN IS JUST A WISH.
 Page 8 Fresh Facts

Upcoming Events
Feb. 20 OFFMA’s Annual Awards Banquet in Niagara Falls

Feb. 20 Pre-Convention Workshop—2 HR presentations

Feb. 21 OFFMA AGM at the OFVC

Ontario Farm Fresh
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director
Feb. 21&22 Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Convention, Niagara Falls, go to ofvc.ca for
2002 Vandorf Rd. Aurora, ON L4G 7B9 additional info
Phone: 905-841-9278
E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com Feb. 27 F2F Workshop—Soup as a New Revenue Stream, Willowtree Farm, Port
www.ontariofarmfresh.com
Perry, 3pm to 6pm
2017-18 OFFMA Board of Directors
Steve Martin, President
Martin’s Family Fruit Farm April 16-20 Tour to Ireland– only 8 seats left
Kristin Ego MacPhail, Vice President
Ego Nurseries Ltd.
Leslie Forsythe, Past President
Forsythe Family Farms
Cara Ferguson, Associate Member
The Berings from White Meadows Farms Invite you to a
Edana Integrated Marketing Pop Up—Meet Up
Nicole Judge, Spirit Tree Estate Cidery
Erin McLean, McLean Berry Farm
Colleen McKay, Your Farm Market ‘A Maple Night Cap’ at The Maple Syrup Store
Jordan McKay, Willowtree Farm
Dana Thatcher, Thatcher Farms by White Meadows Farms
Karen Whitty, Whitty Farms on Wednesday, February 21 from 9:30 pm to 10:30 pm
Jessica Kelly, OMAFRA Advisor

Fallsview Casino Galleria Mall

6380 Fallsview Blvd Niagara Falls, ON

When you walk in the Casino doors and are facing the fountain, we are
down the wing to the left. If you see 'Kernels' you are going in the
right direction. If you come up the escalator from the corner of Murray
St. and Fallsview Blvd, we are about 1/2 way down that wing.
Murray, Ann and Richard Bering will be there on Wednesday evening
between 9:30 pm and 10:30 pm to answer any questions you may
have about this new venture.

Jim and Leslie Forsythe are first time grand-

parents. Their son, Daniel and his wife Joce-
lyn had a little boy on Friday, January 19th.
Samuel James weighed in at 8lbs. 5oz.
Everyone is doing well.

FAM*I*LY n. pl. families

One of life’s greatest blessings. A
group of persons sharing a com-
mon ancestry. A group of people
who will love and support each
other through the good times as
well as the bad.