Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal was one of the speakers to start the 2015 Ontario Federation of Agriculture annual meeting in Toronto.
The theme of this year`s convention is How To Talk Farming and Influence People.
The minister commented on the importance of educating consumers pointing to the OFA's 6 by 16 campaign that is targeted at teaching teens how to prepare 6 meals with locally grown produce by the time they are 16 years old.
Leal told delegates that the sector added 17,000 jobs last year and boosted exports by 5 per cent. And it's time to start bragging about the sector's future potential. Investments in the Ontario processing sector will help make the entire agri-food industry more competitive.
And the sale of Hydro One was also eluded to. Jeff Leal says the government is hoping one of the benefits of the sale of Hydro One will be to make the utility more responsive to its customers. The government is also pushing ahead to expand natural gas infrastructure in rural Ontario to give farmers and others the option to switch to that energy source.
The OFA convention is on today and tomorrow in Toronto.
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The minister commented on the importance of educating consumers.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/OFA-Leal-1.mp3"][/audio]
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Leal says it`s time to start bragging about the sector`s future potential.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/OFA-Leal-2.mp3"][/audio]
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Leal says the government is hoping one of the benefits of the sale of Hydro One will be to make the utility more responsive to its customers.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/OFA-Leal-3.mp3"][/audio]
