The federal
and provincial governments are funding the Organic Council of Ontario to
develop a province-wide listing of organic producers, processors, and value
chain members.
The council
says “that will help strengthen connections throughout the organic sector in
this province.
“Although
the directory will include some consumer-based products, it will largely focus
on increasing linkages between businesses.
“The goal
of this project will be to ensure that organic growers can find inputs and
distributors for their products, organic processors can find local, organic
ingredients, and organic consumers can find farm fresh, local, organic food.”
The
couuncil’s lead consultant, Carolyn Young, said after a 2016 survey of members’
wishes “we wanted to find out why more people aren’t transitioning to organic.
“One common
barrier to certification that we identified was access to local organic inputs
and distribution channels.
‘It’s hard
to find some of these things without knowing where to look. We think the
directory is one part of the solution.”
