It’s Local Food Week, a celebration of the fresh, healthy food grown, and processed right here in Ontario. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture says if you live and eat in Ontario, you enjoy the widest variety of locally-produced food. Ontario farmers grow and produce more than 200 products. These range from traditional crops and livestock like corn and wheat, hogs and chickens to ethnic foods like bok choy and kohlrabi. We’re able to produce such high volume and variety of quality food because Ontario has more than half of the highest quality, Class 1, farmland in Canada.
Ontario’s more than 51,000 farmers produce more than just food. Most people don’t realize the Ontario agri-food sector directly contributes $13.7 billion to the provincial economy. And on a national level, Ontario generates nearly one-quarter of the total revenue for farms across Canada. Local food has a huge impact in Ontario – not just feeding us, but fueling the entire economy.
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