Many of you may have noticed that the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA) has been much more vocal in our public-facing communications about our sector. This is driven by increased public and media scrutiny of agriculture and food production, as well as the need for broader general understanding of where food comes from, how it’s produced and why it’s so important that we don’t lose the ability to feed ourselves. 

Our efforts take a two-pronged approach, focusing both specifically on labour and more broadly on domestic food production and sustainability. Here’s an overview of what we’ve been up to this year on both fronts. 

More than a Migrant Worker 

This initiative specifically shines a light on the importance of seasonal and temporary foreign workers to our sector and to Canadian food production. Launched in 2021, MTAMW empowers international farm workers in Ontario to tell their own stories in their own words about why they come to Canada to earn a living. 

More often than not, it’s bad stories that make headlines and the other stories go untold, and we believe in giving those workers a voice as well. Our goal is also to ensure that anyone searching online – whether in search engines or social channels – for information about migrant farm workers will also find our resources to give them access to a more balanced story. 

This year, we’ve run two stories with the Ottawa Citizen – one in June focusing on how Ontario farm jobs are a coveted opportunity for Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) workers, and the other in October highlighting the many positive changes that have taken place in recent years to ensure better experiences for both workers and employers. You can find these articles on the More than a Migrant Worker website under “news”.

These are complemented by articles in the Hill Times, a publication for those working on and around Parliament Hill, and the iPolitics Queen’s Park newsletter. As well, we’ve had great success having stories picked up by print and online publications that we’ve prepared and placed on the News Canada digital wire service, and two ads we’ve placed in the LCBO’s Food and Drink magazine have been well received.

We also continue to respond to negative media stories about seasonal and temporary workers, including the release of the final report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery this summer. 

Senior policy advisor Stefan Larrass and OFVGA labour section chair Bill George continue to make themselves available for interviews and as subject matter experts to media, government and other stakeholders, which helps bring clarity and factual context to ongoing discussions around international agricultural workers. 

Larrass and George were both interviewed by multiple publications for response to the UN rapporteur comments, and following the OFVGA news release around the positive compliance statistics, we saw mainstream media coverage that used several quotes and statistics from the release.

OFVGA has also been involved with events involving workers, such as the Jamaican Liaison Service summer appreciation events, the Norfolk County soccer tournament and bus tours for government and food professionals hosted by Farm and Food Care Ontario, where our team is part of the on-bus group of experts to answer questions from tour participants. 

Promoting Ontario horticulture production

This year we’ve also continued positive outreach around horticulture production in general, focusing on sustainability and on the importance of domestic food production. 

We’ve just run another successful series of GO Train posters over the summer on the Lakeshore line heading into Toronto, and we’re continuing digital ads on urban panels and billboards. We post regular blogs and release monthly news stories to media, which are complemented by online advertising on websites and social channels including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

We’ve also had stories published in the Hill Times and the iPolitics Queen’s Park newsletter, highlighting issues around crop protection and sustainable production. 

And finally, our News Canada story series focused on edible horticulture, combined with the migrant worker articles, have racked up more than 11 million impressions, including pick-up on the MSN online news feed and many urban sites, such as BramptonToday.com and more. 

If we don’t tell our story someone else will, or so the saying goes – and we’re working hard to make sure our voice is part of the mix when Ontarians have questions about fruit and vegetable production.