BELLEVILLE, Ont. – Eighty Ontario families open their doors to weekly fresh vegetable deliveries from a Prince Edward County market garden.
“People want to know the farmer who grows their food,” said Vicki Emlaw of Vicki’s Vegetables near Milford, Ont.
Since 2002, the former dairy farm and now a four acre vegetable garden has served up boxes of fresh vegetables to pre-paid customers living within an hour’s drive of the farm.
Most are young families and older couples who purchase their half or full share in the spring for $350 to $525.
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Some work the fields to lower their fee as part of a community shared agriculture program.
Emlaw said the money allows her to buy and plant a host of vegetables that includes many heirloom and certified organic varieties.
She staggers plantings throughout the summer to ensure a steady supply of vegetables, grown without chemicals but not certified organic.
The remainder of Emlaw’s produce is sold at a roadside stand and to local gourmet restaurants.
She does not participate in farmers’ markets.
“If we go somewhere, we need to make sure it’s worthwhile to go,” she said.
The distance food travels to market should appear on the packaging in stores, said grape and apple grower Grant Howes.
He sells his County Cider Co. products to 12 bars and restaurants and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and from his farm store overlooking Lake Ontario’s Prince Edward Bay.
He noted the difficulties his products have competing globally.
“We can’t compete with their wages and low environmental standards,” he said. “It would be great if LCBO would put on how far wine has to travel before it’s put on the shelf.”
Howes cited the current trend in restaurants to attract customers by offering locally grown goods.
“As a result of their dedication to local produce, it brings people into the restaurant.”
To create his cider, Howes uses 100 percent juice and a slow fermentation process that retains the benefits of eating a raw apple.
He uses only apples from his orchard and other local farms and incorporates integrated pest management practices into his orchards.
Locally grown is a powerful food label in the marketplace, said Mike Schreiner, vice-president of Local Food Plus (LFP), a nonprofit corporation that fosters local sustainable food systems by certifying farmers and processors and linking them with local buyers.
Schreiner said the number of consumers buying local foods has risen over the last decade, with half of all food shoppers saying they check labels to see where it is produced.
“The local food movement has gone mainstream.”
Consumers are more interested now in food safety, animal welfare and on farm working conditions.
He said the LFP certification system gives farmers points for their stewardship, organic or integrated pest management systems and safety records.
That differentiates products, allows producers to command a higher price, as much as 15 percent, and gives consumers confidence they are getting what they want.
“Buyers are willing to pay more for products that reflect their values,” said Schreiner.
He said prices for organics are plummeting because they are becoming a commodity.
Farmers need to find ways to set their products apart from the rest by branding products, farms or regions.
Prince Edward Country’s driving tours called Taste the County and the Taste Trail are examples of initiatives designed to build resident and visitor loyalty for locally grown food.
Farmers’ markets also build bridges between buyers and sellers, said Bob Chorney, executive director of Farmers Markets Ontario.
There are 500 across Canada, representing sales of $1 billion annually.
Chorney said the markets are undergoing a renaissance as people’s tastes turn to local food.
“We were talking local years ago and now we’re riding the wave,” he said.
