Today, many restaurants showcase local, Canadian products.  While sourcing these  products is becoming more of a main stream industry with typical wholesale marketing, building direct marketing chains between food producers and restaurants or other retail markets is a real boon for both the agricultural industry and retailers.  Producers retain value on their product, while restauranteurs or retailers have the direct link, and the real story behind the product. All this helps meet increasing consumer demand for fresh, unique and local products.
 
In the spirit of building successful relationships between farmers and retailers, I’ve spoken with …

Recent discussions with a friend of mine, Paul Spence, a cash crop farmer from Ridgetown Ontario, really brought home the crisis, the opportunity, and the barriers in diversifying in the agricultural sector today.
We all know that many sectors of the Canadian agriculture are in trouble.  Case in point, the pork industry. It’s under catastrophic collapse from fluctuating commodity prices, trade barriers instigated by disease outbreaks, and supply and demand issues which have left the pork industry in chaos.  Pork farms are going bankrupt under the current system.
So there are a myriad of farmers who …

Dale Kropf, founder of the Hometown Grocers’ Co-op, felt his customers were underserved with local products.  To address this, he left his six Sobey’s Foodland franchises, and became independent as L&M Food Markets.
By independently sourcing product, rather than going through national level corporate buyers, Kropf is able to purchase more from local producers, and create more tangible links between farmer and consumer.
That said, there is a cost.  Some products are more expensive, but have freshness and social value on their side.  Leaving the corporate environment means no support network for purchasing and marketing, but may …