Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

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

Happy New Year!

I’ve always thought of March as Farmer’s New Year. The days are noticeably longer, the sun
is that much stronger, and going outside starts to make sense again. We’ve recovered from Newsletter #266
the Holidays and can just make out the start of the season in the not-too-distant future. By March 2011
March, we’re looking forward to opening again! To tell the truth, I’m not a big fan of January. Volume 26, Number 3
It’s cold – real cold – and grey. Did I mention the darkness? Why start fresh in a month like
that? Around here, I pick March as the start of the New Year.

March is also the start of the New Year for OFFMA’s Board of Directors. Newly elected Direc-
tors include: Leslie Forsythe (Forsythe Family Farms, Markham), Brian Hugli (Hugli’s Blueber- Inside this issue:
ry Ranch, Pembroke), and Hollis Murphy (Murphy’s Farmstead, Alliston). Welcome, welcome,
and welcome! Thank you for agreeing to give your time and your insights to OFFMA. Membership News 2
A Day with Hugh 3
This year’s Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention week served as a great kick off to my McPherson
Farmer’s New Year. Going into this year’s convention, my personal goals were simple: learn Awards Banquet 4
lots, meet new people, and stay up too late with old friends. Check, check, and check. Those
of us who attended OFFMA’s pre-convention workshop “A Goal Without a Plan is a Wish” with Ideas to boost sales 6
Hugh McPherson are now full of ideas and inspiration. The OFFMA Annual Banquet was a
terrific evening. This year’s honourees included Spirit Tree Estate Cidery (Farm Market of the Upcoming Events 8
Year), Whittmore’s Farm Market (Leadership Award) and Anita Stewart (OFFMA Ambassador New OFFMA 8
Award). Take time to visit their websites and see why all three winners are so deserving. Board of Directors
OFFMA’s Direct Farm Sales sessions at the OFVC were packed as always, full of great speak-
ers and innovative ideas. OFFMA’s Peer Networking Groups also kicked off at this year’s con-
vention.

Wishing you a very Happy Farmer’s New Year! Here’s to March and to the start of something
fresh…

Jesse Lauzon This is the year of the survey.

OFFMA President
If you were at the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Convention you may have
already been asked to fill out a membership survey. Three years ago
OFFMA did a survey with its members and their consumers. The re-
sults were fascinating and very useful to our industry (they can be
reviewed on our web site). We are once again looking at surveying
our members and their consumers to gauge how far we have come in
the last three years. No one likes completing surveys but this one is
very important, please take a few minutes and answer the questions.
You will be sent the questions, electronically and through the mail.
Anyone who answers will be have their names put in a draw for a
chance to win two seats on the annual OFFMA Bus Tour.

Thank you for your participation.

Page 2 Fresh Facts
MEMBERSHIP NEWS
A HUGE Welcome to our new members!!!
This organization is only as strong, only as
current, only as innovative as its members.
Take time to become an active participant,
you will definitely reap what you sow with
this group.
Dleco Farm
Dali Wang
Niagara-on-the Lake, ON 905-321-6807
Heritage Lane Produce
Gregory & Victoria Boyd
Langton, ON 519-875-3177
Kemp Country Farm Market
Bill Kemp
Consecon, ON 613-394-2382
Steward’s Blueberries
Lee Steward
Burford, ON 519-458-4176
Royal Rose Garden
Jovan Ugrnov
Princeton, ON 519-836-7008
Murphy’s Country Produce
Brian & Brendan Murphy
Binbrook, ON 905-692-5733
An acre of attitudes—by Seth Godin
Everyone is given an acre of attitudes at
birth. It's yours to tend and garden and
weed and live with. You can plant bitter-
ness or good humour. Feel free to fertilize
and tend the feelings and approaches that
you want to spend time with. Unless you
hurt someone, this acre is all yours.
Probably worth putting up a decent fence,
so that only the attitudes that you choose
will have a chance to put down seeds, but
it's certainly a bad idea to put up a wall,
because a walled garden is no good to any-
one passing by. You get to decide what
comes through your fence gate, right?
Watching out for invasive species—
spending sufficient time on weeding and
pruning and staking seem to be incredibly
powerful tools for accomplishing the life
you want. I refuse to accept that an atti-
tude is an accident of birth or an un-
changeable constant. That would be truly
horrible to contemplate.
Happy Spring. Good luck with your garden.
Thank you to everyone who has sent
in their membership dues for 2011.
For anyone who has not sent payment
for their membership this is the last
newsletter you will receive. An OFF-
MA membership is the best value you
can get , don’t miss out. ACT NOW!
This is your newsletter. If you have an idea you
would like to share, a book you have found very val-
uable or a blog that is insightful, please let us know
so we can tell the rest of the membership. In the
words of Bill Redelmeier, you need to remember
that we as on-farm marketers are not competing
with each other. We are competing for our consum-
ers’ time with the movie theatres, the soccer prac-
tices and the shopping malls.
A couple of ideas to ponder from Linda Stanley, Re-
search and Marketing Director at John Stanley Associ-
ates
1. Winner of best promotions - National Apple Month in
the US
The winners were Timothy Hassel of Ferguson and Has-
seler Inc. This store exhibited 12 different varieties of the
fruit. What was unique was his promotion of "Vote for
YOUR Favourite Apple." This engaged consumers and
encouraged them to buy more varieties of apples and
hence sales increased. There are lots of other products
in retailing where this technique would be a winner.
2. SPUD-tacular Potato Display
Build the biggest and get it into the Guinness Book of
Records and the public will come. That is what has hap-
pened this winter in Spanish Fork, Utah during Febru-
ary's Potato Lovers Month. This store used 240,000 Ida-
ho russet potatoes to build the world’s largest potato
display in a store. Most of the potatoes were in 10 pound
bags for sale. What a great way to get international mar-
keting exposure.
Results from the Cider Competition
New this year at the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable
Convention was a Cider Competition.
There were 13 entries and 9 judges who scored all
the entries. The 6 ciders with the highest scores
were resampled to place the top 3.
Here's the winners:
1st - Thomas Wilson and Nicole Judge, Spirit Tree
Estate Winery, Caledon
2nd - Hector and Mark Delanghe, Delhaven
Orchards, Cedar Springs
3rd - Ralph Ferri, Al Ferri + Sons, Brampton.
Congratulations to everyone
who participated!
 Newsletter #266 March 2011 Page 3

A Day with Hugh McPherson

The pre-convention workshop this year was titled ‘A Ultimately what will it cost you
Goal Without a Plan is a Wish’; essentially it started out if you continue to ignore it?
as a planning workshop…..Can you think of a more
exciting topic to get people to attend a full day work- The next mini-session was
shop? No, we couldn’t do that to our members. We had formally called ‘Herding Cats:
to make sure Hugh shared some of his experiences Effectively Hiring & Managing
from other areas of his business as well. The day with Your Employees’. Hugh actu-
Hugh McPherson ended up encompassing planning, ally found a U-Tube video
hiring processes, a little bit of customer service and about herding cats….quite
assistance with making decisions around adding new funny actually. Like most on-
attractions. We also had time for a detailed question farm marketers, Hugh hires a
and answer period. lot of teenagers. He has
worked out a system whereby
Here are some take home tidbits that will give a little bit he is able to eliminate the
of insight into the day but also a few tips that you can applicants who are not com-
use in your businesses. Hugh approached goal plan- mitted to doing their best. The insert explains to all
ning from the point of view that the goals you want, applicants in simple terms what the hiring process
have to be so attractive or ‘magnetic’ that you are in- consists of, and what they are expected to do if
spired to work towards achieving them. He provided us they are hired at Maize Quest (Hugh’s on-farm
with worksheets and excerpts from his personal experi- business). He walked us through the process he
ences with goal setting. uses and what he sees as the pros and
Working on cons of that process.
Quick steps to making Maize Quest’s Team
goals magnets Hugh’s philosophy around customer
1. Become disturbed. How the process works: service can be summed up in the title he
Specifically define the dis- - Interview with a manager chose for his next mini-session; ‘One,
sonance between your - Group Orientation (youth must not everyone: Exception-based Custom-
bring parents) if selected
current position and your er Service’. Essentially he feels that he
-Training and trial period if select-
position upon reaching ed can have more of an impact if he offers
your goal. a ‘gift’ to a customer on a random basis
2. Reframe your benefits. Things you should know: versus handing out free apples to every-
Specifically assess and -There are more applicants than one as they enter the park for example.
build your probability be- openings His logic is that if you can make an im-
liefs, social beliefs, and -The next few interactions are an pression on that customer, they will tell
ability beliefs as they relate audition, not just an application 4 people who in turn will tell four people
to your goals. -Availability + quality = hours about the great time that was had at the
3. Create direct relation- farm. Isn’t that what we all want? Defi-
Things you must do:
ships. nitely something to ponder.
Write out the positive out- -Make people happy
-Put guests first
come of achieving your -Smile, no matter what
If you were in any of the sessions on
goals. Wednesday at the Ontario Fruit & Vege-
4. Define your investment. table Convention, you know that Hugh is full of
Write down the time, money, resources and efforts you energy and enthusiasm. He was like that ALL day
are willing to invest in achieving your goal. in the workshop. No snoozing in this program. You
5. Define the price of nothing. couldn’t help but leave energized yourself and
Write down and calculate the cost of doing nothing in confident you had a few more tools in your toolbox
relation to your specific goal. for the upcoming year.

Decide what your priorities are and

how much time you’ll spend on them.
If you don’t, someone else will.
 Page 4 Fresh Facts

Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Farm Fresh Awards

By Gary Johnson

On the eve of the Fruit & Vegetable Con-

ference in this season of award shows,
Ontario Farm Fresh held its Annual
Awards Banquet at the Hernder Estate
Winery in St Catharines, Ontario.

It was a night to remember with celebri-

ty farmers such as Paul Brooks of
Brooks Farms acting as Master of Cere-
monies, and President Amy Strom of
Strom’s Farm, Chris and Christy Hi-
emstra of Clovermead Apiaries, Steve
Smith of Smith’s Apples and Farm Mar-
ket, Mark Saunders of Saunders Farm
and Jesse Lauzon of Springridge Farm all
presiding over the festivities.

With cameras
clicking and Mike, Suzanne and Frank Whittamore representing the Whittamore
flashing, Family and accepting the Ontario Farm Fresh Leadership Award
along with
cheers and ap- ples taking centre stage. Taking their time,
plause, the farm doing their research, taking courses in bread
fresh heroes/stars and pastry baking and cider making, they be-
of the evening gan putting everything together in an environ-
were Tom Wilson mentally friendly straw bale building which
& Nicole Judge of included geothermal heating and cooling. In
Spirit Tree Estate short, they have fulfilled their vision and are
Cidery who were operating a successful artisanal bakery and
presented with the cidery. The response from their customers has
Outstanding Farm been remarkable. Many have become their
Market Award and greatest advocates. This is extremely hearten-
Frank, Mike, and ing for any on-farm marketer but especially so
Suzanne Whitta- for ones who have decided to veer off the com-
more of Whit- mon highway.
tamore’s Farm
Market who were Frank, Suzanne, and Mike Whittamore were
presented with the representing the entire family including par-
Outstanding Farm Market Award winners; Tom Wilson Leadership Award. ents Gilbert and Evelyn Whittamore. The Whit-
and Nicole Judge from Spirit Tree Estate Cidery tamore Family
have been lead-
In 2005, Tom & Nicole of Spirit
Tree, after selling the original farm
Pride is not ers in the direct
farm market
on which they ran a successful farm
market and pick-your-own opera- a four lettered business for
over 50 years.
tion, set out to find a perfect loca- In the mid
tion for a new venture. They had a
vision of what they wanted to
word. 1950’s Gilbert
Whittamore
achieve – a unique destination with
an environmental conscience where
-Anita Stewart decided, in or-
der to salvage a
they could feature their own prod- crop of straw-
ucts as well as those of local artisans. At the berries, to open the gates of the farm to the
centre would be a wood fired oven producing public and became one of the first to start a
artisanal bread and pastries as well as ap- pick-your-own operation. From those small be-
 Newsletter #266 March 2011 Page 5

ginnings, the Whittamore’s on an ongoing

basis, year to year, continue to diversify
and add new things to their farm market
enterprise – agritainment - (pumpkinland,
mazes), food service, school tours and
more. There have been many challenges
along the way with the Pickering Airport,
The Rouge Valley Park and the Greenbelt
just to name a few land challenges, but
Mike and Frank met each one head on and
preserved as best they could. Truly, the
Whittamore’s Family has been one of the
leaders in our industry.

Anita Stewart, culinary activist, author,

communicator and food lover was awarded
the inaugural Ontario Farm Fresh Food
Ambassador Award. The award was creat-
ed to recognize an individual who has
made a public commitment to promote
local food and local food producers. This
award was designed to also recognize
someone who, because of their beliefs and
actions, has inspired others to support On-
tario farmers. The winner is someone who
‘walks the talk’, someone who believes in
the Ontario agricultural industry and is
proud to sing the praises of those who toil to
bring top quality, fresh, healthy food to our
tables.
Jesse Lauzon presenting Anita Stewart with the
Ontario Farm Fresh Ambassador Award
The award recognized Anita for her public
commitment in promoting local food and
local food producers. She is the original
locavore.
As the evening wound down, the stars
continued to shine at various post-award
parties.

The OFFMA Board decided this year that the Outstanding Farm Market Award was
not enough to celebrate all the good things that were happening out in the country-
side on our members’ farms. It was decided that we needed some additional ways to
recognize the excellence in our midst, thus the Leadership Award was born. Steve
Smith headed up the creation of the Bronze Rooster—Ontario Farm Fresh’s very
own ‘Oscar’. Jesse initiated the goal to bring in others outside of our membership
who also worked on our behalf by promoting local food, and local farmers to the
consumer.

Despite the new categories for awards, the Awards Banquet would not have been
possible without the support we received from our sponsors. The new awards, the
shuttle bus, the lovely venue would not have happened without sponsors. As mem-
bers, please consider supporting the sponsors who support you.

A very big thank you to ……

Dawn Foods
Darling Insurance
Flanagan Foods
Page 6 Fresh Facts
Steal this Recipe and Boost On-Farm Market Sales
By Judy Scott Welden, Chief Communicator, Nutritionist, Welden Scott Communications
STEP 1.
SHOW ME WHAT I COULD SERVE FOR
DINNER TONIGHT!
Consumers
think by meal
occasion.
Make it easy
for your shop-
pers by sug-
gesting menus
based on what
you really want
to sell. Display
what they
need.
So if you want
to move all
your steaks,
your mush-
rooms and your
asparagus in early May, come up with a
menu, the recipes to put it together and a
display plan to merchandise the items nice-
ly together.
Don’t forget to add the fresh bread and a
dessert item (maybe grilled apples with ma-
ple syrup) and the consumer will really think
about buying most of the items for the din-
ner. You have given the consumer the gift
of ‘dinner pre-planned’. Research shows
that by 4:00 o’clock 75% of Ontarians do
not know what to have for dinner that night.
Action tips:
 Be sure to offer a printed meal plan
sheet with directions to pull off this
dinner. Plan it out now, create a
binder and have a set of featured
menus ready for each Saturday and
Sunday all season long. Add a fea-
ture sign that says – this is the best
from Mother Nature right now!
 Add a nice display plate of the pre-
made meal for show.
 Don’t forget about the old favourites.
Create a merchandising display when
tomatoes are in season by adding the
bacon, fresh lettuce, mayo and fresh
bread for the favourite BLT sandwich.
Also show off the sandwich on a nice
plate with a cover. Remember we
eat with our eyes!
STEP 2.
DR. OZ AND THE TV FOOD SHOW ARE
A BIG INFLUENCE.
Check these sites often to see what is
recommended and take advantage of it in
your market store. For example, print off
the recipe for OZ FAMILY BEET SALAD
and put it beside your beet display or DR.
OZ’S VITAMIN C SMOOTHIE and put it
beside the strawberries. If you have a
kitchen and are preparing ready-made
food items for sale, make up some of the
recipes and sell them with the name OZ
FAMILY BEET SALAD along with the rec-
ipe and watch it fly from the cooler.
Action tips:
 Set up a small health and recipe
resource centre and order free pub-
lications from the health unit, health
organizations, commodity boards
etc. Order in Canada’s Food Guide
and other publications now, so you
will have them ready for the sea-
son.
 Make signs that have list of foods
that are suitable if you are a diabet-
ic, have high blood pressure, celiac
disease etc. This ‘cheat sheet’ will
be helpful for your Consumer.
 You may want to group three or
four fruits and vegetable together
and have a separate display called
‘Foods friendly for those with high
blood pressure’. Below have a bas-
ket of apples, berries, root vegeta-
bles. Make up your merchandising
plans now for the health conscious
consumer so your staff can imple-
ment quickly and easily in the busy
season.
STEP 3.
YIKES, THE ONLY THING I CAN MAKE
IN MY KITCHEN IS RESERVATIONS!
Don’t assume your consumer knows their
way around the kitchen. Many do, but
also many don’t have a clue. Treat every-

one like they are a newbie to the kitchen.
This means if you want to sell your food,
make sure you have signage, tips sheets,
recipe directions to give the consumer
confidence. Remember consumers won’t
buy a food if they don’t know how to cook
it. I recently had a lady tell me the only
way she knew how to make mashed pota-
toes was from a box. That is how her
mother made them and that is all she
knew. I encourage you to put your brain
into Cooking 101 mode and put up display
signs on how to cook corn, how to cook a
cauliflower and especially how to cook
meat.
Action tips:
 Make up recipe directions and lami-
nate sheets. This way you will have
signs ready to display near the cau-
Newsletter #266 March 2011 Page 7
liflower when it is in-season, near
the corn, potatoes etc.
 If you have a computer or small TV/
VCR, find videos from sites such as
www.beefinfo.org Information Cen-
tre or the Chicken Farmers of Cana-
da on how to cook beef or chicken.
Make up your own DVD using these
videos that can be played on a con-
tinuous loop to help give the con-
sumer confidence that they can
cook the product so they will buy
the product.
Start this work now, so you are ready
when the season gets into full swing.
Judy Scott Welden is a national speaker
and producer/host of a new TV show
called’ Food for Thought’. For more info,
visit ww.weldenscott.ca
 Page 8 Fresh Facts

Upcoming Events
April 4-8, 2011 Bus Tour to UK, contact Cathy Bartolic at 905-841-9278 –SOLD OUT,
but a waiting list is being created
OMAFRA Workshops and Courses

Growing Your Farm Profits, 40 workshops being offered until March 31, 2011: http://
Ontario Farm Fresh www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev/gyfp/index.htm
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director
2002 Vandorf Rd. Aurora, ON L4G 7B9 Quest for New Farm Value – Value Plus workshops, 10 workshops to be offered up to March
Phone: 905-841-9278 31, 2011: http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev/conference/quest/index.html
Fax: 905-726-3369
E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com On-Farm Food Safety Workshops
www.ontariofarmfresh.com
March 10 Markdale
2011-12 OFFMA Board of Directors March 16 Elora
Jesse Lauzon, President March 24 Bloomfield (Prince Edward County)
Springridge Farm Contact advantage@ontario.ca or call 1-877-424-1300
Steve Smith, Vice President
Smith’s Apples
Amy Strom, Past President OCTA Social Media Workshops
Strom’s Farm March 22 Norfolk County
Leslie Forsythe, Forsythe Family Farms March 23 Collingwood
Jay Howell, Brantview Apples & Cider
Brian Hugli, Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch
March 24 Simcoe County
Marg Land, Annex Publishing Visit www.ontarioculinary.com for further information
(Associate Member)
Hollis Murphy, Murphy’s Farmstead July 26 OFFMA’s Potluck Social, Murphy’s Farmstead, Alliston, watch this
Colleen Pingle, Pingle’s Farm Market
Geri Rounds, Rounds Ranch
newsletter for additional information
Dorene Collins, OMAFRA
(Advisor to the Board) Nov. 6-8 OFFMA’s Annual Bus Tour, details to be sent out in August/September

The Last Word this month goes to the OFFMA Board’s new and returning members. These people take time
away from their businesses and families to work on your behalf and guide the industry into the future. Thank
you for your dedication and commitment to Ontario Farm Fresh.

Jesse Lauzon, Springridge Farm ‐ President
Milton, ON jesse@springridgefarm.com
Steve Smith, Smith’s Apples & Farm Market – Vice‐President
Port Elgin, ON stevesmith@bmts.com
Amy Strom, Strom’s Farm – Past President
Guelph, ON amy@strom.ca
Leslie Forsythe, Forsythe Family Farm Inc., Uxbridge, ON forsythefamilyfarm@gmail.com
Brian Hugli, Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch, Pembroke, ON info@blueberryranch.ca
Jay Howell, Brantview Apples & Cider, St. George, ON brantviewapples@sympatico.ca
Margaret Land, Annex Publishing – Associate Member
Simcoe, ON mland@annexweb.com
Colleen Pingle, Pingle’s Farm Market, Hampton, ON colleen@pinglesfarmmarket.com
Geri Rounds, Rounds Ranch, Elmvale, ON ger@roundsranch.com
Hollis Murphy, Murphy’s Farmstead, Alliston, ON info@murphysfarmstead.com
Dorene Collins, OMAFRA – Advisor to the Board
Guelph, Ontario dorene.collins@ontario.ca