by: Shawn Brenn and Alison Robertson

This is the second year that, as chair and as executive director, we are teaming up to provide a joint report – from the leadership of the OFVGA – to you, our members.  

Although the board and staff have distinct roles and responsibilities, we work closely together to collaborate and support the work this organization does on behalf of growers. 

Strategic planning

We have spent the last year working on a strategic planning initiative to help chart OFVGA’s course for the next several years. We appreciate the many OFVGA members and stakeholders who participated in this process over the past year.

We are proud of how far this organization has come in the past 10 years in terms of our stability, capacity and expertise, and the respect and relationships we’ve been able to establish inside and outside the industry. Our new strategic plan builds on this, amplifying the work we are already doing as well as identifying new opportunities and ways we can have an even stronger presence in four key areas: advocacy, partnerships, governance and member engagement, and communications.  

Building and growing government relationships

In 2025, we welcomed Trevor Jones as our new minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness, while his predecessor, Rob Flack moved to Municipal Affairs and Housing. We appreciate the ongoing positive working relationships with both ministers and their willingness to engage with OFVGA on issues impacting growers. 

In November 2025, we hosted our annual advocacy day at Queen’s Park, where we highlighted two major issues in particular: accelerating the rollout of the remaining Risk Management Program/Self-Directed Risk Management (RMP/SDRM) funding and clearing the path for more on-farm worker housing. We welcomed the chance to meet with both Minister Jones and Minister Flack and also received support from the agriculture critics and leaders of opposition parties for issues that matter to growers. 

Our advocacy day is an annual, focused opportunity to meet with elected officials and political staff, but we are also in regular contact with government representatives throughout the year as part of our advocacy work for growers. 

National issues

Although we are a provincial organization, many of the issues and challenges affecting growers are national so we also often find ourselves ensuring our members’ voices are heard at the federal level. To do that, we actively support the activities of Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC), but we are also proactive on our own. Highlights from this year include: 

• Organizing and attending meetings with staff in the office of Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hadju, and with Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre regarding the federal government’s redesign of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and to advocate strongly for the protection of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (Bill George, Stefan Larrass, Shawn Brenn)
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• Speaking in front of the House of Commons AGRI committee with grower recommendations on how to build on the new Grocery Code of Conduct (Gordon Stock)
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• Presenting to the House of Commons AGRI committee on regulatory reform to make the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Pest Management Regulatory Agency more predictable and efficient (Chris Duyvelshoff)
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• Representing Ontario on the FVGC executive (Alison Robertson and Quinton Woods)
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• Chairing FVGC’s transition working group (Alison Robertson)
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• Organizing and participating in the annual Minor Use Priority Setting conference (Matt Sheppard, Chris Duyvelshoff, Deanna Vander Zaag)
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New national relationships

One of the biggest wins for OFVGA to come out of the past year is stronger working relationships with our peers across Canada. We’ve been able to build solid, collaborative cooperation with other Canadian grower organizations, particularly in Québec and British Columbia, letting us share knowledge and advocacy on key issues. We also continue to work with our peers across North America on the shifting dynamics of relationships between growers and retailers – a strength we didn’t have a year ago. 

The power of data in advocacy

In addition to relationships, much of the advocacy we do, whether provincial, federal or municipal, depends on data. We’ve added a new policy analyst to our team this past year, Rachel Luo, to build out our capacity in this field. 

The financial picture

OFVGA continues to remain financially strong. We again paid the Fruit and Vegetable Grower of Canada membership fees on behalf of our members whose growers remit container fees – this amounted to $296,000 this past year. We are fortunate that the container fees continue to cover our expenses; we also earn additional revenue from administering programming such as the Northern Fruit and Vegetable Program, Fresh from the Farm and airport welcome kits for incoming workers. 

We have set up a committee to explore how we can develop a fund that would be available to OFVGA members and stakeholders to invest in strategic industry initiatives, while maintaining a high level of transparency and accountability. We welcome input and ideas on this new concept. 

Trade and tariffs

No report about 2025 would be complete without a mention of tariffs and trade. There were a lot of unknowns at this time last year, but we were fortunate that trade and tariffs did not dominate our year the way they could have. Who knows what 2026 will bring, but much of what we are doing to strengthen our organization, whether it’s governance, staffing or resources, is to make us as prepared as possible for the unknown. 

Foodland Ontario

We continue to push for a dramatic refresh of the Foodland Ontario brand and related marketing activities. The past year has highlighted that it is more important than ever that Ontarians know where their food comes from, that we encourage buying local and that we protect our ability to produce as much of our own food as possible right here at home. 

Foodland is a brand with strong consumer recognition, and we continue to encourage the provincial government to leverage this asset for the benefit of food consumers and producers. 

Shawn Brenn is a potato grower and chair, Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association. Alison Robertson is executive director.