Ontario Strawberries
Kevin Schooley, executive director of the Berry Growers of Ontario, in a strawberry field.
Ontario, like BC, produces a greater volume of fresh strawberries than processed, so looking at how those berries are sold, as well as areas for challenges and wins, can represent great opportunities for western growers.
“The whole industry in Ontario really developed in the U-Pick industry in the 70s,” says Kevin Schooley, executive director of the Berry Growers of Ontario.
Today, distribution of Ontario’s strawberries includes U-Pick, farm-gate markets, farmers’ markets, satellite roadside stands and wholesale options like grocery stores, the Toronto Food Terminal, auctions and sales to resellers. The wholesale side of things includes large and small retailers from Loblaw’s, Sobeys and Walmart to independent retailers.
“Walmart is really becoming a good friend to local produce,” he notes. “They’ve been fair to growers so it’s a really nice surprise.”
This diversity of wholesale buyers has been a benefit to Ontario growers who have seen a demand for locally-grown produce in retail channels. It’s a “pull” market more than a “push” as retailers are responding to consumers looking for locally-grown strawberries. Despite the demand, establishing and maintaining retailer relationship can be challenging.
“As a grower, you would go and visit with them at least once a year,” Schooley says. “But you’re dealing with different people all the time.”
With any sizeable retailer, contacts change and roles shift. Growers can expect to interact with buyers, category managers, liaisons and others.
“Some of the retailers have group meetings and have done things like give awards to create better relations,” he notes.
The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable convention features a ‘meet the buyer’ component to their event based on a similar approach seen in Michigan.
“It’s like speed dating with buyers,” he says. “It’s very successful.”
The Toronto Food Terminal is often the last stop for strawberries in the province. While there may be specialty stores at the terminal, growers may also end up using it as a “dumping ground” according to Schooley. Other growers turn to food banks and other charitable organizations. He explains that often the tax credits can help in recovering some of the costs of production.
“It’s really important that you cultivate a number of different sources to sell your product,” he notes. “It reduces your risk.”
Ontario does differ from BC in that June-bearing berries are primarily grown for the retail market, with less weight on the ever-bearing varieties for this sales channel.
In February 2017 the Berry Growers of Ontario was formed with Kevin Schooley as executive director of the production and marketing entity for strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. It brought together the Ontario Berry Growers Association and Ontario Highbush Blueberry Growers Association and now collects a mandatory membership fee based on acreage.
“Growers with two acres or more are obliged to be members,” he explains.
Recently the growers association created an industry advisory committee which is chaired by the Ontario Marketing Commission with representation from various segments within the strawberry industry including growers, wholesalers, suppliers, and other associations and organizations.
Challenges in Ontario that BC growers can learn from
Like BC, Ontario is faced with an influx of cheap strawberries from California that all-too-often take the lead spot in a retail flyer with their 99 cent price tag. It’s hard for local growers to compete in a retail environment with their much higher price, but Schooley notes a different consumer wants local berries over the California grown ones, and that consumer is willing to pay more. The bargain or discount retailers aren’t interested in local fruit.
The need to differentiate locally-grown fruit from cheaper imports led to packaging changes from the growers association.
“We’ve been spending more time on that lately,” he says. “Retailers wanted that label to be more prominent.”
Not only does the new label allow retailers to easily identify the different fruit for merchandising, it gives the discerning local fruit shopper instant identification as well. However, along with the change in packaging came another challenge – that of the container itself.
“One of our biggest challenges is strawberry containers,” he says.
California-grown berries are most often sold in clear clamshells, so Berry Growers of Ontario went with a green mesh container with a clear lid. It’s smaller in size than previous packaging, which retailers are looking for to offset the increase in minimum wage.
“We really don’t like [the mesh container],” says Schooley. “It’s expensive but a few of the retailers really like them.”
The association is looking into new packaging options. Some growers also create specialty packs for retailers and charge a premium for this specialization.
“You can tailor things,” he says, adding this enhances the relationship and potentially brings a bigger profit for growers.
Ultimately, Schooley boils down the successes of strawberry growers to eight key messages: Growers should sell in as many market channels as possible, ensure a variety of buyers, meet with buyers often, communicate often, known costs, ensure consistent quality and supply, consider processing if needed, and turn to charitable organizations (like food banks) for tax credits to recover some costs if needed.
Growing berries in Ontario is certainly different than it is on the West Coast, but tips from the Berry Growers of Ontario can help BC growers try new strategies to lead towards success.