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Are you:

• A crop or dairy farmer wanting to diversify into lucrative organic meat, fruit and/or vegetable production?

• A conventional or non certified organic farmer wanting to transition to organic certification for health, economic, and ecological reasons?

• A farmer who wants to expand your reach into local commercial markets for organic food?

• A young farmer with land and ideas?

Canadian Organic Growers (COG) has been exploring marketing options for organic food across the country through the Growing Up Organic Project. In almost every region, including Eastern Ontario, there is a strong demand for local organic food from large buyers such as schools, caterers, retailers, etc. However, there are not enough local organic farmers to meet the demand, and those that do exist have a hard time accessing these markets. Their individual production is too small and most commercial buyers do not want to deal with a dozen or so different farmers. Yet there is no storage and distribution infrastructure in place to make purchasing and deliveries more efficient and manageable for the buyers even if there were more farmers producing on a larger scale.

Many farmers are beginning to ask if co-operative business models can offer solutions in Eastern Ontario. Therefore, COG is holding an event in Kemptville to explore co-operative development for farmers. In a farmer owned co-operative, farmer members make all decisions regarding the co-operative and its activities.

This gives farmer members greater control over their production, products and prices. Furthermore, when farmers are united in a co-operative, their power and influence increases in the marketplace, especially with larger scale buyers. These buyers also benefit by being able to source local organic food from many farmers, but a single broker - the co-operative -meeting their needs for quantity, diversity, consistency, convenience and reliability.

Through the co-operative, COG can provide the supports, resources and skills development required for farmer members to succeed in organic production. COG can also help develop lucrative local markets for the cooperative’s organic products.

Farmers interested in exploring these concepts are encouraged to come and ask questions about whether organics and co-operatives are right for them. Non-farming observers interested in this topic are also welcomed to attend. There will be three panel presentations by experts with open discussions to follow on:

1. Farmer Co-operatives - different models and structures and how they can benefit farmers?

2. Organic Farming - what does is take to go organic?

3. Organic Marketplace - commercial potentials for selling certified organic food produced in Eastern Ontario.

The symposium will be March 22, from 1 p.m. until 5:30 p.m., at Kemptville College, followed by an informal reception until 8 p.m. The event is free for farmers, but advanced registration is required by March 19 for planning purposes. Interested farmers should contact Canadian Organic Growers for information and to register.

Call 1-888-375-7383 or email office@cog.ca.

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