The Ontario Federation of Agriculture hopes it can sway urban voters with its message during next year’s provincial election.
“With the election coming up, we need to talk about the benefits we have to offer all Ontarians beyond the food on their tables,” said Keith Currie, OFA president.
Rural issues usually fail to resonate with urban voters, who are more worried about traffic congestion, housing prices and jobs than food, OFA members said at the group’s recent annual meeting in Toronto.
The OFA hopes to make the case that rural areas and farms can help urban residents on several fronts. Some rural areas are experiencing an out-migration and that leaves opportunities for urban people seeking less expensive housing and employers looking for workers.
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But to build stronger rural communities, the OFA argues that government investment is needed in infrastructure.
Top of the rural infrastructure list for the OFA is bringing natural gas to more areas of the province. That would mean cheaper home heating for farmers and non-farming residents and more economical power for factories and farms.
David Freshwater, a professor at University of Kentucky who grew up in the Niagara Peninsula, supported the message of rural economic development in his talk at the OFA convention.
He said farmers make up a tiny portion of the population so most economic policy is designed for urban residents. He says there needs to be a message that shows the value of rural economic policy to city residents.
“You need to create a positive message of rural opportunity,” he says.
Currie spoke little about risk management, farm income or farm production practices when discussing provincial election messaging, although OFA works on all of those things.
“We need something different. Something bold. Something that will survive the test of time. What message can we bring to urban voters that will resonate with them?”
The OFA polled urban residents and found the largest issues include concerns about access to good jobs and health care, along with a perception that rural schools offer inferior education.
Currie says the OFA isn’t advocating for unchecked growth of rural communities, adding that a fundamental prerequisite is protection of farmland.
Currie says that with the production of more than 200 commodities in Ontario, a quarter of Canada’s farmers and C$1.4 billion in farm-gate output each year, agriculture can be an economic powerhouse.
