The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA) is a lobby organization and our ability to achieve results on behalf of growers is directly linked to the strength of our government relations network and the relationships our board and staff are able to build with elected representatives, political staff and bureaucrats. 

As an organization, we’ve invested considerable time, effort and resources into developing those relationships over the last number of years and making sure we have the in-house expertise in key policy areas in order to work effectively with government. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, many of those efforts involved direct, in-person contact. We took the grower message to Queen’s Park for dedicated lobby days that involved meetings with many different people. It was often at the end-of-day reception, though, that the more meaningful conversations and interactions took place. 

We also regularly attended events hosted by government and by politicians as a way of further building those relationships, and many of our directors participated regularly in meetings locally and regionally with politicians. 

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve never tested the strength of those relationships nor fully appreciated the value of this type of outreach and networking until the last 18 months. The pandemic has been a - hopefully - once-in-a-lifetime crisis that threatened grower businesses and families, but also Canada’s food production capacity. 

It was by everyone working together - growers, industry, and government - that we were able to navigate our way through the turbulence and make sure we did the best we could to keep workers arriving and ensuring their safety while they are here. We’ve managed to keep meetings, business and networking going by moving things online. Our annual general meeting this past winter was a virtual event, and we hosted virtual lobby days provincially. There were some good outcomes, but it just wasn’t the same or as effective as being able to meet face-to-face.

There’s an energy that comes with being together that Zoom just can’t replicate. This is especially true of situations where you’re meeting someone for the first time, and as the pandemic drags on, we’re gradually starting to work with people we’ve never met before except online. 

With a federal election called for September 20 and a provincial election coming up in less than a year, there will likely be changes with new faces and new appointments to key positions. Elections always serve as a bit of a reset for government relations activities.  I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to safely resume at least some of our outreach activities in person and restart more meaningful interactions. 

We’re still seeing some large agricultural industry events opting not to move ahead in-person, but we’re hoping, for example, to be able to host our annual meeting this coming winter in-person in some way.  As a board and staff, we, too, need to be able to have face-to-face discussions with each other and with growers when it comes to debating issues and setting policy.

So, we’ve started looking at new ways of bringing people together safely and of getting the grower message in front of influencers and decision-makers creatively but in-person. That includes being able to bring people to farms – a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, but an in-person visit is even better when it comes to understanding what our sector is all about. 

We’re also looking at what those messages should be. We know that labour, crop protection and safety net programming are always important, and we will continue to focus on those areas. 

But what will the next growing season look like in terms of worker arrivals, for example? And as we transition into a post-pandemic reality, what other issues will come our way that we need to work on? What role will climate change and the environment play in our ability to grow food and be competitive? 

Those topics - and more - will hopefully soon be the subject of face-to-face meetings once again.