Powerhouse Partners

“Most people don’t understand the significance of what this place contributes to the Canadian economy in terms of fresh produce, in terms of jobs, and in terms of filling up the city streets with small grocers,” OFT general manager Bruce Nicolas told food reporter Jennifer Bain of the Toronto Star.  

Tickets for the event were $10 for adults, $5 for children under 10 years of age, and included tours, cooking demonstrations, and a smorgasbord of food as well as salad bars with all the fixings—what FoodShare is known for around the community.  After the amazing success of Fresh Fest, a second public promotion, “Taste of the Food Terminal” was held in late May. 

Both events attracted thousands of curious Toronto residents—most of whom knew about the terminal but never came near its sprawling compound—and proved successful for the nonprofit FoodShare, as well as OFT merchants who showed off the variety of their offerings and fielded questions about locally grown fruit and vegetables. 

Greenhouse Growing

Supplying the OFT, retailers, the U.S. market, and the entire Toronto region—Leamington is home to some of the top greenhouse growing in North America due to its longer-than-usual hours of daylight and positioning near the northern shores of Lake Erie. These conditions proved more than ideal for producing a wealth of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

Ontario is home to 224 greenhouse growers, most concentrated between Kingsville and Leamington and members of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers Association.  These high-tech operations are comprised of 2,272 total acres of produce and supply a staggering amount of vegetables annually, including 300 million pounds of English cucumbers, 165 million pounds of bell peppers, and more than 420 million pounds of tomatoes at a farm gate value of nearly $700 million, with more than 70 percent of production exported to the United States.

Although most provinces in Canada have some form of protected agriculture (including the cultivation of flowers, ornamental plants, and sod as well as fruit and vegetables), Ontario led the charge in both acreage and number of growing operations—especially in vegetable production.  British Columbia and Quebec have each made significant strides in recent years, but are far from achieving Ontario’s dominance of the industry with nearly 90,000,000 square feet of fresh fruit and vegetable production (British Columbia accounted for under 30,000,000 square feet and Quebec was home to about 9,000,000 square feet according to Statistics Canada).

Since greenhouse growing is highly labor intensive, Ontario employs about 7,000 workers (with more than half as seasonal employees working up to eight months each year) to plant, maintain, and harvest its bounty.  Labor costs routinely account for a quarter of operating costs.