A role that the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA) has really begun to embrace over the last several years is proactive, public-facing communications about our industry. The goal is for government, media and the general public to have a better understanding of who we are and what we do – and why it is so vitally important to protect our ability to grow our own food.

We continue to actively shine a spotlight on seasonal and temporary foreign workers through our More than a Migrant Worker initiative, as well as generally promote fruit and vegetable production in Ontario. Here are a few highlights of what OFVGA is working on.

News articles

We continue to provide articles and photos to the News Canada online news service, which is a great outlet for print and online publications to find stories for their readers. We currently have eight stories running on its portal, focusing on various topics related to local food production and buying local along with references to farmers and seasonal workers and the role they play in the fruits and vegetables on our plates. 

Our content has been striking a chord with publications, which is so great to see. All eight articles, for example, have been picked up by MSN, which is the news feed that shows up on Windows computers and has an estimated reach of 411,000 readers. 

Coming up in June and again in the fall, we’ll be having news stories featured in the Ottawa Citizen as well focused on the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). 

Ads

LCBO’s Food and Drink Magazine: For the third year we have a full page advertisement in the spring edition of the LCBO’s Food and Drink Magazine, where we highlight the contributions of seasonal workers to the beverages in our glasses. This year’s ad features the tag line “Behind every glass of Ontario wine, there’s an incredible story” and photos of seasonal workers from our MTAMW campaign. 

Spotify: We currently have a series of audio ads running on the Spotify network aimed at podcast listeners. The goal is to highlight the important role seasonal workers play in our food system through these short, approximately 15-second audio ads. 

Cineplex theaters: From June 6 – to July 3, a series of short video clips featuring MTAMW will be running in select Cineplex theatres in southern Ontario. 

Social media: We continue to post worker stories, blog posts and other updates on both the OFVGA and MTAMW websites as well as on our social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. These are complemented by digital ad placements and search engine optimization that makes sure our content shows up in user searches on Google. 

Trade shows and presentations: We continue to give presentations to various audiences and organizations about MTAMW. Although we focus a lot on the general public, it’s also important that our own industry knows what we are working on. This spring, for example, we had a booth at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association annual conference and our communications advisor Ben Murray participated in a panel discussion about the importance of public trust in our food system. 

Political outreach: Following the recent provincial election which saw some new politicians coming to Queen’s Park for the first time, we took the opportunity to send a MTAMW update letter to all MPPs. Our goal: to introduce them to the initiative (if they’re not already familiar) and to offer opportunities for follow-up conversations. And now that the federal election is behind us, we plan to take the same approach with Ontario’s newly elected MPs in the near future. In the past, this type of outreach has resulted in many great meetings and introductions with several elected officials.

Shawn Brenn is a potato grower and chair of the Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association.