Fruit and vegetable growers welcome historic boost to risk management program

News Release

Fruit and vegetable growers welcome historic boost to risk management program

For immediate release

Guelph ON, January 28, 2025 – Today’s announcement by the Ontario government to increase risk management funding for farmers is welcome news for Ontario’s fruit and vegetable growers. The boost to Ontario’s Risk Management Program, which includes the Self-Directed Risk Management (SDRM) program for edible horticulture farms, means growers will have greater confidence when making production decisions for the 2025 growing season.

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness Rob Flack, Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy and Parliamentary Assistant John Jordan made the announcement of a total investment of $100 million of additional funding to the program per year. The increase will be phased-in over three years, starting with a $30 million increase in 2025.   

“We appreciate the willingness of the provincial government to invest in our domestic food supply by recognizing the importance of fruit and vegetable production in our province,” says Shawn Brenn, potato grower and chair of Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA). “This additional investment will help Ontario’s fruit and vegetable sector better navigate current challenges – and we appreciate the leadership of Minister Flack and the Ford government in making this happen.”

OFVGA and fellow members of the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition have been urging the province for the past several years to increase its funding of RMP and SDRM to help Ontario farmers better deal with inflation, stubbornly high production costs, and other challenges outside of their control.

This includes a new farm assistance program launched by the United States Department of Agriculture in December 2024 for growers of specialty crops, primarily including produce. The total funding envelope for this new program is approximately $3.84 billion CAD, putting Ontario growers at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to their U.S. counterparts.

“The world has changed dramatically in the last several years, with growers facing increased costs, geopolitical uncertainty and market instability, and the additional assistance provided to U.S. growers by their government creates even more competitive pressure for our industry here at home,” adds OFVGA Vice Chair Mike Chromczak, an asparagus grower who is also co-chair of OASC. “That’s why we have been urging the government to increase their investment in this critical program – and why today’s historic announcement is such welcome news for our sector.”

The OFVGA is the voice of Ontario’s 3,500 fruit and vegetable farmers on issues affecting the edible horticulture sector. The sector grows products in fields and greenhouses across the province for fresh and processed consumption. Visit www.ofvga.org. OFVGA’s partners in the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition are Beef Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Pork, Ontario Sheep Farmers, Grain Farmers of Ontario, and Veal Farmers of Ontario.

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For more information:
Shawn Brenn, Chair, 905-516-6051 or shawn@brennbfarms.com
Mike Chromczak, Vice Chair, 519-933-5766 or mike@chromczak.ca
Stefan Larrass, Senior Policy Advisor, 519-803-9914 or slarrass@ofvga.org