Today, the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers' Marketing Board, the Ontario Apple Growers, the Ontario Fresh Grape Growers and Vineland Research and Innovation Centre are getting together in Vineland to release a
15-year strategic plan for the Ontario apple, tender fruit (peaches, nectarines, cherries and so on) and fresh grape industry.
The study was initiatated because (although consumption of fresh fruit in Canada has increased by 12% over the last 20 years, and is expected to rise), Ontario producers’ market share is declining. The plan is designed to set "the direction and framework for the important decisions the Ontario Apple, Tender Fruit and Fresh Grape Industry will need to make going forward". The report (full text at the link above) makes interesting reading for anyone who cares about local food, and gives reason both for applause and alarm.
On the applause side, it's good to see the growers getting together to focus on getting local fruit to the consumer. The report suggests initiatives like local fruit policies for schools and hospitals. It stresses that food producers need get get to know the end consumer better, and find out what people really want.
The document points out that "A large segment of consumers believe that over 75 percent of fruit offered by retailers during the summer is from Ontario. This view contrasts actual sales of Ontario fruit in nearly all fruit categories examined." (Only peaches come close to this figure.) It adds that "current branding and positioning themes are not making enough clear connections needed for consumers to choose in-season Ontario product over imports." Among other steps, the industry is considering a change in the way fruit is graded into categories like “Canada Extra Fancy Grade”, “Canada Fancy Grade” and the utterly baffling “Ontario Domestic Split-pit Grade”.
There is some discussion about reducing the cost of labour by pooling resources in areas like housing and transportation. I find it hard to imagine that there's much fat to be trimmed in this area, as well-treated workers are clearly an enormous asset to the industry.
One alarming point is that the report identifies organic products under the heading "Substitution threat", along with imported fruit – meaning that they see the organics niche as a competitor for market share. That our large commercial producers view organics as a "threat" can't be good for consumers.
I also find it ominous that the report states that the appearance of fruit must be improved, with the directive (in boldface) that "fruit that is otherwise good, but does not meet expectations for size and blemishes, etc. must be rejected and immediately deferred to a secondary market." I hope I'm wrong, but to me this suggests the authors of the plan misunderstand a key point, that there is a certain demographic of buyers, the people who shop for that threatening organic fruit at the farmers' markets, who are willing to buy fruit that doesn't look so pretty if it's local. Granted, it's a tiny market segment so far, but this is the group of consumers who can be the best allies for the local fruit industry, and it would be unwise to discount them.
Also disheartening, the statement that "the industry should investigate the plausibility of becoming more specialized, i.e. focussing efforts on offering a narrow portfolio of contemporary cultivars". Of course, I can understand the need to concentrate the most effort on the crops that perform and sell best, but I would hate to see only Red Delicious apples at the grocery store and never a Northern Spy. There must be a way to balance financial concerns with the delivery of the fruit that actually tastes best.
I was interested to read that the growers may "investigate the potential for realigning the industry’s fruit portfolio", meaning that they might consider replanting with crops that yield the most money per hectare. This plan would favour the production of proportionally more nectarines, apples, sweet cherries and peaches, which are about double the farm value of crops like pears, plums, apricots, sour cherries and table grapes.
What this means to me is that there has never been a better time for shoppers who value food diversity as well as local food production to vote with their wallets, by learning about what local fruit is available and buying it. Fruit is one of the foods that presents the best argument for buying local, because it loses nutritional value as it ages, travels, or is processed.
Talk to store managers when you can't find local raspberries in season. Buy the rarer local fruit varieties when you see them (with apples, that means anythng other than McIntosh, Empire and Red Delicious). Choose VQA-labelled wine, which is actually made from Ontario grapes, so we don't hear the dreadful tales of rotting truckloads of local grapes in the middle of wine country. It seems so simple and obvious to me that, whether you look at it from the point of view of economy, environment or public health, everyone in Ontario stands to gain by helping our fruit growers to thrive by selling a diversity of local produce.
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