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√ Enjoy fresh food from Ontario
√ Support environmentally responsible farming
√ Conserve energy and cut greenhouse gases
√ Ensure fair conditions for farm workers
√ Provide humane care for livestock
√ Preserve farming land wild life habitat
√ Foster a strong local economy
And then I was browsing through a greenhouse trade magazine and a computer control company advertisement read: Make your Greenhouse ‘ Green ‘. For some people green means money, for others it means protecting the environment. With our system it can be both.
√ Reduce carbon emissions
√ Reduce electrical consumption
√ Reduce run-off
√ Reduce fertilizer use
√ Reduce water use
√ Increase output and quality.
Personally when I buy vegetables I always make an effort to buy locally grown. I never thought that locally grown may mean all of the above points. When I buy vegetables and see a familiar name of a greenhouse on the package, my mind computes several facts like, no pesticide applied, grown only a few km from here, good grower, always tells the truth about the produce, was harvested yesterday, takes pride in his/her business, seeks new information and knowledge, and so on. This happens in a fraction of a second and the produce is in my cart.
Farmers Markets have played a major role in this direct to consumer approach and they are fairly successful. Last Thursday I went to Millwoods open market and all produce was gone by 8:15 p.m. I enjoy going to these markets, not only for the good quality produce but also meeting the growers. Many times growers mention that they have sold everything within two hours and it was one of their best days. If your produce is sold within a few hours, this means that there is market demand for your product so you should build more capacity by growing more and supplying more. Sometimes the thinking is “Don’t grow more”, it will result in oversupply and you may have to drop the price. I think in these markets you can get a better price. There is more demand so expand your business.
I think another part of locally grown business is the commercial, wholesale market. Lot of changes have taken place in this market segment. When I started my job in 1979, there were local buyers in Edmonton and Calgary for major chain stores and they were well connected with growers. These buyers visited greenhouses and farms, had a cup of coffee with growers and established good working relationships. Individual stores had “permission” to buy locally as much as possible. These buyers would come on tours, would participate in grower’s forums, would show up at research open houses and thus provide feedback and inputs for future needs and directions.
Now many of these buyers have been centralized and buyers are somewhere is U.S. Electronic buying is the norm. It is very encouraging to see that some large wholesalers buy more local produce, and proudly display it as locally grown. One large store I walked into I saw a picture of wife and husband team involved in greenhouse vegetable production. I frequently see pictures of growers on promotional material which comes in with newspapers. One wholesaler is giving a big push to locally grown produce. I think the need is that growers must make sure that they are able to build their supply capacity as this market segment expands. We have to give confidence to consumers that locally grown is healthy, safe, nutritious, reduced carbon foot printed, ethically grown and if you buy locally, you are helping local economy.
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