PICTON, Ont. – Like agricultural areas across Canada, the last few years have not been kind to the farm economy in Prince Edward County, a rural island oasis a few hours drive east of Toronto.
BSE, low commodity prices and the lure of city jobs for young people have put pressure on farmers and the businesses and communities they support.
“We’re like other farm areas, hurting,” said Sue Millar, president of the Prince Edward County Federation of Agriculture. “It has been a tough time.”
Yet unlike many rural areas in Canada that have been down on their luck lately, the county has fought back with an aggressive economic development and promotion campaign that is giving new visibility to area farmers, their products and their surroundings.
Read Also
Organic farmers urged to make better use of trade deals
Organic growers should be singing CUSMA’s praises, according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
The campaign is breathing some optimism into an area that was recently uncertain, wondering about its rural future. It could offer some lessons in promotion for other rural areas.
A turning point was the 2001 decision by the county government to hire an economic development officer.
“We’re essentially agriculture here,” said Dan Taylor, hired from Toronto to promote the local economy. “I got here and realized agriculture has a lot of problems that I could not solve with a $20,000 budget. But we had positive stories and I decided the best strategy was to market those positive stories.”
Taylor’s plan is to see what product his client has (agriculture, local products and an appealing countryside) and what potential consumers want (a food and rural experience with a bit of fun or adventure).
“Then I try to connect the dots between what the product is and what the demand is and how they can connect.”
It started with a maple syrup promotion that connected local producers with city customers through a pancake and syrup promotion.
Now, Prince Edward County has become the home of an annual “taste” day when local restaurants, farmers, processors and a recently developed wine industry display their wares.
The roads of the county are replete with taste trail signs.
Others have joined the campaign with their own new attractions. A local entrepreneur started a Prince Edward County marathon last year that promotes local outlets and products to the hundreds of runners who show up in October.
But the campaign is the result of more than the county’s natural advantages of soil, climate and proximity to millions of consumers. Those conditions always have existed but the renaissance has happened only in the past few years.
It is as much about attitude as assets.
County council made the political decision to promote the area and its agricultural base.
And local producers have been willing to take some risks, including producing a “naked farmers” calendar that will raise the local profile and money to help educate and attract young farmers interested in entering the business.
“We have a great asset, our farm community, countryside and produce that we can sell,” said Taylor. “It was a question of packaging it, of telling the story. I think rural areas, whether here or elsewhere, have a story to tell that is attractive to people if they know how to package it.”
Bloomfield chicken producer Dick Prinzen said the increased profile is a mixed blessing.
“There is more tourism and more jobs from that and that is good,” he said.
“But the negative is that people are attracted by the image and move here, but then don’t like the farm smells or the equipment on the road and want to stop that. They should be told what farming is before they move here.”
