Fresh Facts Oct/Nov 2015

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Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Newsletter #308

Oct.—Nov. 2015 Volume 31, Number 7

Fresh Facts

Inside this issue:

Membership News 2

Stepping Up Your

‘Back of the En-

velope’ Math

4

Five Great Invest-

ments for Your

Farm

5

Essentials of

Hayride Safety6

Upcoming events 8

Business News 3

President’s Message

Fall on the farm – eagerly anticipated, occasionally dreaded. So much to do toprepare and it seems so little time; a time of year when all the training, staffmanuals and organizational skills developed get put into practice daily. The fallseason has over the years been consistently our busiest season even with ourmove.This has been a year for us to get creative. We spent last year just getting thebasics in place. This year it’s – what are we going to do to get more people to

come. This is where I have truly appreciated being a member of OFFMA. Ihave a resource of 100’s of marketers to look to who are trying to achieve thesame thing.

August is always quiet, so, after Dan and Jocelyn’s wedding, we visited somemembers to see what they were up to and gather information for our future forayinto weddings and events. The culture of OFFMA has always been unique inthe openness and sharing which occurs amongst members and we came homeenergised, ready to tackle the future. I thank Heather of Valleyview Little AnimalFarm, Earl from Stanley’s Olde Maple Lane Farm, Suzy and Ron from Millers’Farm & Market and Brian and Judy from Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch for their hospi-tality. They had things to do but took the time to visit with Jim and I.

Our annual bus tours are an opportunity for sharing and this year it’s in BritishColumbia. Register soon if you want to go as the seats are filling up fast. It’san opportunity to form connections and friendships with members from areas ofOntario and Quebec that would otherwise be difficult due to distance.

Attending our Farm to Fork University evenings also gives you an opportunity tostep away from the farm and explore new ideas. Check out the schedule on theback page.There are so many opportunities to connect through OFFMA. I hope you cantake some time to reach out and visit another member soon.

You are welcome to come and see us.

Leslie ForsytheOFFMA President

Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.

Study tour to Beautiful British Columbia with a quick detour to

Seattle

Only a few seats remain available at this

point. Don’t miss out on this amazing tour.

Deadline for registration is

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16th.



MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Page 2 Fresh Facts

Classifieds

FOR SALE:

Rounds Ranch has a bumper crop of pump-kins and would like to wholesale them. If youneed pumpkins contact Geri,

[email protected]

WANTED:Gramma’s Summer Kitchen is looking for10 bushels of crabapples. They are willingto travel to get a supply. If you havesome, contact Sharon Aitchison,[email protected]

FOR SALE:

Looking for Pumpkins? White, warty, laceyand orange- we have them all. Wholesalepricing, call Josmar Acres at (519) 647-2025

and talk to Andrea or Marg.

FOR SALE:

Delhaven Orchards Ltd., Blenheim, ON Fro-zen, pitted sour cherriesavailable for wholesale and retailCall 519-676-4475 or [email protected]

ADD A LITTLE MAPLE TO YOUR SHELVES

Fulton's Pancake House & Sugar Bush has awide selection of wholesale Maple products

that your customers will fall in love with! From jams and fruit syrups, to lip balm and bodylotion! Everything is produced on-site usinglocal produce and our secret ingredient... MA-PLE SYRUP! Call 613-256-3863 or [email protected] to place your order!

FOR SALE:

Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch in Pembroke has itsown line of wholesale gourmet blueberry prod-ucts that include bbq sauce, jam, syrup, hotpepper jelly, pure juice, dressings and sal-sa. For inquiries, contact Judy at [email protected]*These products can also be found in theMembers’ Marketplace on the OFFMA web-site.

Classifieds are free for members. Send

your information to the OFFMA office and

it will be included in the next newsletter.

OFFMA’s websiteIs your information current and correcton OFFMA’s website?OntarioFarmFresh.com is the consum-er gateway to the on-farm marketingindustry. Take a minute on the nextrainy day and have a peek. Check yourlisting to make sure consumers canfind you by the various products andservices that you offer.

Introducing…

The Bull Pen

The Bull Pen is the agricultural versionof the Dragon’s Den. It will have itspremier debut at the 2016 Fruit & Vege-table Convention in February in NiagaraFalls.We are looking for members who havea product or service that they wouldlike to take to the next marketing levelby getting feedback from industry ex-perts and peers.You would need to present the productor service at the convention in front ofthe ‘bulls’ or experts and be willing to

hear the feedback that they are propos-ing.If you are interested, please contact theOFFMA office. We have very limitedspace for this opportunity so considerdoing so sooner rather than later.

REMINDER

Now’s the time to take pic-

tures. Lots and lots of pic-

tures; some photos you will

be able to use for your mar-

keting material but pictures

are also a great way to record what is hap-

pening in your busy market, how your dis-

plays were set up, the area behind the mar-

ket that always looked like a disaster.

In the winter you can think about trying to

come up with new solutions but at that

point it will be difficult to remember what

things looked like…….so take a picture. It is

worth at least a thousand words.



Page 3Newsletter #308

Ontario Minimum Wage Rises Today As announced earlier this year, Ontario is rais‐

ing the general minimum wage from $11 to

$11.25 per hour, eff ecve October 1,

2015. Minimum wage rates for certain jobs and/or employees such as liquor servers,

homeworkers, and students are also increasing

at the same me. More informaon about the

new wage rates and your rights under the Em‐

ployment Standards Act, 2000, hp://

news.ontario.ca/mol/en/2015/09/ontario‐

connuing‐to‐increase‐minimum‐wage.html?

utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email&utm

_campaign=p

MOL Safety Blitz Targets Material

Handling

From Sept. 14 to Oct. 23, 2015, the Ministry of

Labour will be vising businesses to focus on

hazards involving material handling during a

safety blitz across the province. Inspectors are

vising retail outlets, wholesalers, and other

industrial sector workplaces to focus on manual

material handling in support of Global Ergo‐

nomics Month in October. Visit the WSPS web‐

site to see what inspectors are looking for at

hp://www.wsps.ca/Informaon‐Resources/

Arcles/Material‐handling‐blitz‐inspectors‐

MSD‐prevenon.aspx

No WSIB

Rate

Increases

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board

(WSIB) will not increase premium rates in

2016. Read more at hp://

www.newswire.ca/news‐releases/wsib‐

announces‐that‐2016‐premium‐rates‐will‐

not‐increase‐523112331.html

Get Ready for 2016 Accessibility Re‐

quirements New requirements are coming into eff ect on

January 1, 2016 for businesses of 1‐49 em‐

ployees and 50+ employees. Here are your requirements and links to resources for busi‐

nesses with 1‐49 employees:

Train your staff on Ontario’s accessibility

laws at hp://www.accessforward.ca/

How to make your informaon accessible for

staff & customers at hps://www.ontario.ca/

page/how‐make‐informaon‐accessible

Business News

Merchandising Consultant Available

OFFMA is working with Leslie Groves on a project where she visits on-farmmarkets and helps them develop a plan to create more visually appealing mer-chandising for their market. The feedback from the members that she visitedlast year was very positive. There are still a few spots left for Leslie to comeand visit your farm in 2015. If you are interested, contact the OFFMA office be-fore the end of October to set up a date. The cost is $200 for a half day con-sultation and follow up report with Leslie.

"At Springridge we knew we wanted to make some changes in our retail space,but weren't sure what to do.When we learned we could have Leslie Groves come to the farm as a retailconsultant through OFFMA we jumped at the opportunity.Leslie asked lots of questions and spent a couple of hours in our market as-sessing our layout and displays. She also took lots of pictures.The result was a report from her giving us her ideas of how we could changeup our cash location, open up our sight lights and generally refresh our wholelook.Over the winter, we implemented nearly every change she suggested. Theresults have been amazing, as soon as we opened we heard nothing but posi-tive comments from our customers.The best news is that we have seen an almost 12% increase in sales of ourgift, home decor and gourmet products.Thank you OFFMA for this opportunity". - Laura Hughes, Springridge Farm



Page 4 Fresh Facts

How do you approach decisions on your farm to make an investment or add a new at-traction? Do you run to your computer and open a spreadsheet or do you prefer tomake decisions based on a “gut feeling”, hoping that the numbers will work themselvesout?For the number-phobic among us, partial budgeting offers a simple yet powerful tool toconduct cost-benefit analysis. The National Good Food Network recently did a webinaron the topic. The recording and supplementary files are available here: http://www.ngfn.org/resources/ngfn-cluster-calls/one-page-cost-benefit-tool Below is an example of how this tool can be used.

Cost-Benefit Analysis for: Purchase of a walk-in cooler

The first step is to look at the cost of the investment, how long it will last, and its annualdepreciation cost. This depreciation cost is based on the useful life of the asset ratherthan Canadian Revenue Agency parameters.Next, you put together an annual budget for the new project focusing only on those lineitems that will change as a result of your decision (thus the name “partial”). This in-cludes additional revenue, additional costs, or costs that you save. From here, you cal-culate your net income, which you interpret as the additional net income you will havefrom moving forward with the project.Lastly, you compare the net income to the investment cost to calculate a return on in-vestment (ROI) percentage. Calculating an ROI percentage is especially important tocompare apples to apples if you are deciding between multiple projects.

Figure out the Annual Depreciation Cost of the Improvement or

Equipment

Line

Total Cost of Equipment $20,000 A

Expected Economic Life (how long it will last) 15 years B

Annual Depreciation Cost (Line A ÷ B) $1,333/year

C

Stepping Up Your “ Back of the Envelope” MathBy Jessica Kelly, Direct Farm Marketing program Lead, OMAFRA

Annual Budget for Improvement or Equipment

Increase

(decrease) Line

Additional Revenue

Estimated using 15% increase in crop production andsales

$20,000 1

Multiply by Gross Margin

Estimated based on historic financial information 40% 2

Additional Gross Margin (Line 1 × 2) $8,000 3

Annual Depreciation Cost (subtract Line C) ($1,333) 4

Interest Expense (subtract cost of borrowing for the project) ($500) 5

Operating Costs (subtract all other operating costs or add cost

savings):

Utilities ($900) 6

Labour ($900) 7

Other costs $0 8

Net Income (Subtract Lines 4-8 from Line 3) $4,367 9

Return on Investment (Line 9 ÷ Line A × 100) 21.8% 10



Page 5Newsletter #308

Is 21.8% ROI high enough? This sug-gests a payback of about five years. Withthe equipment expected to last about 15years, this is a positive sign. You shouldalso ask yourself, how does this compareto other possible investments I couldmake?

This type of analysis can be used for anynumber of decisions: buying new equip-ment or repairing the old, developing newproduction practices or keeping with thestatus quo. This tool can also be used toassess divesting decisions such as, what ifwe removed the xyz fall attraction that isespecially taxing on staff resources?Consider using a partial budget when pen-cilling out your next farm project. It onlytakes one piece of paper – or one enve-lope if you prefer!

Welcome to Nick Betts

Nick joined the

Business Manage-

ment Unit at

OMAFRA in June

as the Business

Management Spe-cialist. He is pas-

sionate about em-

bedding sustainability principles in

the fabric of business and society.

Nick’s other files include strategic

development, new farm entrants, suc-

cession planning, human resources

and safety.Nick can be reached at

[email protected]

Five Great Investments for Your FarmBy Chris Blanchard, first appeared in the Flying Rutabaga weekly newsletter

I like farming toys as much as the next farmer, and when you ask me, “What should my next in-vestment be for my farm?” I’m as tempted as anybody to provide a listing of various configura-tions of metal and grease that, if properly applied, would be the perfect tool to address the situa-tion.But more often than not, I’d be wrong. More often than not, you’d be better off investing your timeand energy into…

1.Improving the information you have about your farm - How much does it cost you to grow a

pound of carrots? What are your fixed costs per acre of field production? How long does it takeyour crew - average, high, and low - to harvest a hundred bunches of kale? What’s your averageper-acre (or per-square foot) yield on carrots? What’s your current ratio, and how does that com-pare to last year? How much did you spend to grow the vegetables that went into your CSAshare?

2.Improving the information you have about your c raft - What don’t you know about growingvegetables, feeding chickens, or raising cows? If you don’t know the basics of your craft, figureout where you can go to learn it - and keep in mind that this might not be your normal round ofconferences! State and regional producer associations often have workshops about improvingthe fundamentals by people who are focused on fundamentals over philosophy. Take a class.

Attend field days.

3.Creating systems - You already have ways that you get things done. What can you do tomake them better? If there are places where things consistently go wrong, spend time digging inthere and figuring out what you need to make things right - more often than not, it’s going to be aminor investment or a change in procedures.

4.Cleaning and clarifying workspaces - It’s such a small thing, but working with even slightlychaotic workspaces and storage areas takes a huge toll on productivity and worker perspective.Clean, bright work areas with obvious storage spaces for tools can ease workloads - and per-ceived workloads - tremendously. If you’ve ever had a worker spend two hours (con’t on pg8)



Fresh FactsPage 6

Essentials of Hayride SafetyWritten by Randy White, White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group andappeared in a NAFDMA publication

Hayrides are a popular and enjoyable

attraction for agri-tainment visitors.However, hayrides can be extremelydangerous if not operated safely. Ourresearch shows that over the past dec-ade, hayride accidents have causedmany serious injuries, including thedeath of at least fifteen people includingten children.Here’s a summary of essential safetyprocedures every farm that operates ahayride should follow:

The hayride trail should be kept

smooth, as depressions and ruts cancause wagons to grab hold and jerk, bouncing guests around. All treesand bushes along the trail need to betrimmed, so riders won’t be hit by branches.

Tractors and hay wagons should bethoroughly inspected at the begin-ning of each day.

All wagons must have a safety chainconnecting the wagon’s front axle to

the tractor’s draw bar or rear axle.

For adequate traction and braking,the tractor pulling the hayride mustweigh more than the gross weight ofthe wagon it pulls when full of peo-ple.

The hay wagon must have railingsand seating. Enclosure railingsshould be designed to prevent chil-dren from crawling through the rail-ings. The front railing must be ade-

quately tall and sturdy to preventanyone from falling forward out ofthe wagon and being run over. Theloading opening on the wagon shouldhave a gate or enclosure that is keptshut.

The loading area should have a signstating the safety rules for passen-gers.

Training is essential for all staff in-

volved. All tractor drivers should betrained in the operation of the trac-tor they will be driving, includinghow to properly start and stopsmoothly. Just because an employeeknows how to drive a tractor doesnot mean they understand how todrive a hayride. All employees whowill be responsible for loading, un-loading and supervising hayridesmust also be trained. There should be a pocket size checklist of all pro-cedures that each loading area staff

keeps with them.

All wagons should have a tour guideriding in the wagon who has two-wayradio communication with the tractordriver. Tractor noise prevents a driv-er from hearing anything shoutedfrom the wagon if there is a problem.

Tractors should have rearview mir-rors that give a full view of the wag-on.

The hayride route should have barri-cade fencing along its route whereverit is in or near areas where visitorswill be, so there is no possibility ofanyone, especially children, wander-ing into the path of the hayride. Atthe loading and unloading areas, thefencing should have gates that areoperated only by the loading/unloading staff.

There should be well organized load-ing and unloading procedures.

Separate unloading and loading are-as.

Only after the tractor comes to astop in the unloading area, is put inneutral and the brake engaged,should the unloading staff open thewagon gate and assist people off.

Once a wagon is unloaded, the barri-



Newsletter #308 Page 7

cade exit gate should be closed, theunloading staff should inspect thewagon for lost items, eyeball the tireinflation on the wagons and tractor,inspect around and under the wagon

to make sure there are no people orchildren, and only then should thetractor driver be signaled to proceedto the loading area.

The barricade gate at the loading areashould not be opened until the trac-tor is at a stop, put in neutral and the brakes engaged.

Once the wagon is loaded, the barri-cade loading gate should be closed,the wagon gate should be closed,

safety instructions recited to the rid-ers, riders checked to make sure allare seated, the area around and un-der the wagon inspected to makesure there are no people or children,the pins and safety chains on thewagons checked and only thenshould the tractor driver be signaledto proceed.

Ideally, communication between theloading and unloading staff and the

driver should be via two-way ra-dio communication. Otherwise,the driver’s go-signal should beone that is visual, crystal clearand not mistakable.

Public road travel should beavoided. If necessary, thereshould be escort vehicles withproper safety lighting at the leadand following the wagon.

Due to the hazardous nature ofhayrides, children’s field triphayrides should have higheradult to child ratios than for theclassroom. The following are rec-ommended:

Recommended Adult to Child Ratiosfor HayridesChildren’s Ages Adult to ChildRatio

2 1:33-4 1:45-9 1:610-17 1:10

Hayrides are a great fun attractionfor agri-tainment visitors. Just makesure you take the time and effort tooperate yours safely.

A loaded wagon from Whittamore’s Farm



Page 8 Fresh Facts

Ontario Farm Fresh

Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director

2002 Vandorf Rd. Aurora, ON L4G 7B9

Phone: 905-841-9278

E-mail: [email protected]

www.ontariofarmfresh.com

2015-16 OFFMA Board of Directors

Leslie Forsythe, President

Forsythe Family Farms

Nicole Judge, Vice President

Spirit Tree Estate Cidery

Brian Hugli, Past President

Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch

Kristin Ego MacPhail, Ego Nurseries Ltd.

Hollis English, Murphy’s Farm Market &

BakeryCara Epp, Associate Member

Edana Integrated Marketing

Steve Martin, Martin’s Family Fruit Farm

Dana Thatcher, Thatcher Farms

Karen Whitty, Whitty Farms

Jessica Kelly, OMAFRA Advisor

Farm 2 Fork University Workshops

—mark your calendars, register online or use the includ-

ed registration form

Cost for each workshop is 10 per person.

NEW DATE—Oct. 27th 4pm to 7pm –Everything You Ever Wanted to Know

Aboutookies

Forsythe Family Farm, Greenbank

Oct. 19th – Making Fruit LeathersWaddell Apples, Seeley’s Bay

Oct. 29th—Decorating with Winter GreeneryHeeman’s Greenhouses & Strawberry Farm

Dec. 3rd—Pizza NightSpiri t Tree Estate Cidery

Other Upcoming Events

Nov. 4&5 Eastern Ontario Local Food Conference, Travelodge Belleville,

for more info go to eastontlocalfood.ca

Nov. 6-15 The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Exhibition Place, Toronto,

for more info go to royalfair.org

Nov. 9–13 OFFMA Study Tour to British Columbia, visit the website or contact Cathy for additional info, 905-841-9278

Nov. 9 2015 Ontario Food Tourism Summit, Westin Prince, Toronto, for

additional info check out ontarioculinary.com/octasummit

(con’t from pg5) during a rare dry spell looking for the right piece of metal to make the transplanter work (that was me), or tornyour hair out with frustration while a crew tried to find a harvest knife for the last worker, you’ve seen the incredible toll this cantake on a farm’s bottom line.

5.Close open loops - Farms tend to be filled with almost-finished projects. Wrap them up and get rid of the extra parts, drop

them off the to-do list, and get them out of your head. You’ll free up mental energy to focus on the work that makes a difference,and the physical space that keeps your workers (and you) from having to work around, under, and over that undone thing andthe junk that’s hanging around to get it done.

What can you do with the time you would have spent researching new toys? What if you spent the money you were going tospend on something new on refining what you’ve already got?

Chris Blanchard provides consulting and education for farming, food, and business through Flying Rutabaga Works. As the owner and oper-ator of Rock Spring Farm since 1999, Chris raised twenty acres of vegetables, herbs, and greenhouse crops, marketed through a 200-member year-round CSA, food stores, and farmers markets. For additional information, go to Purplepitchfork.com

Documents

Fresh Facts Oct/Nov 2015