This is Agriculture – new video highlights how farm products touch our daily lives

GUELPH, ON – The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is building a connection between the city and the country with the launch of a new video illustrating the importance of agriculture on urban life in the province.

Titled This is Agriculture, the concept behind the project highlights that there is so much more to agriculture than just the idyllic farm and rolling countryside. It puts a spotlight on products used and enjoyed by urban residents every day, while also giving a bit of peek behind the curtain on the logistics and science that gets food, fuel and fibre from the farm to our homes.

The video can be viewed on the revamped website for the OFA’s Home Grown campaign, putting a spotlight on the importance of choosing local food and preserving farmland in Ontario.

“Agriculture touches our lives every day in the most important way, but we live in an increasingly modern world driven by digital technology, it can be easy to take that for granted,” says Peggy Brekveld, OFA President. “We want to illustrate to the consumer that there is more to agriculture than hay bales and livestock in a field. This video demonstrates the diversity and broadness of Ontario’s farming communities.”

The video showcases a wide breadth of agricultural products.

Agriculture is the logistics at the Ontario Food Terminal and the research and innovation at the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph. It’s Reid’s Distillery making an artisanal gin with Ontario winter wheat. West Avenue Cider House crafting hundreds of cider flavours using local apples. Neighbourhood butcher shops like Sanagan’s Meat Locker where you buy your steaks. An apiary like Backed by Bees harvesting honey and making mead. The flowers you buy for special occasions that originate in indoor farming operations like Kuyvenhoven Greenhouses. The family memories made experiences at Chickadee Christmas Trees.

“It can be easy to take farmland for granted and assume that the fruits and vegetables we grow there, the animals raised there, the fuel and fibre that originates from the land and the agri-tourism experiences we enjoy will just be there forever,” explains Brekveld. “But the reality is Ontario farmland is a finite resource, and it is disappearing quickly because of urban expansions. We believe we can still facilitate urban growth while protecting this valuable natural resource, and we challenge governments of all levels to take a leadership role and work with us to find those solutions.”