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Ontario's Conservative Caucus visits Gwillimdale Farms in Bradford (12 photos)

30+ Conservative MPs from across the province got together for a retreat, with a stop at Bradford’s Gwillimdale Farms

On Wednesday afternoon, Chair of the Ontario Conservative Caucus, York-Simcoe Member of Parliament (MP) Scot Davidson hosted his colleagues to an in-person retreat in Simcoe County, featuring a visit to Gwillimdale Farms in Bradford, one of the largest vegetable producers, packers and shippers in the province. 

In December 2019, the 36 federal Conservative MPs in Ontario met and elected Davidson as their Chair for the 43rd Canadian Parliament. The group has not been able to meet in-person since March due to the pandemic. The retreat was a way for MPs to reconnrct and see first hand some of the challenges impacting industries and businesses across Ontario and Canada. 

Gwillimdale Farms is a family run business, owned and operated by John and Christina Hambly, along with their three children. Located on the 11th Line in Bradford,  the farm produces on average 250,000 pounds of vegetables each day, and is sold in grocery stores all across the country. 

"These are the boots on the ground people, they're the ones working 18 hours (a day)," said Davidson.

Davidson thanked the Hambly's for hosting the group, especially in the middle of the busy harvest season. 

A virtual video tour was shared to the group highlighting the growing process in the Marsh. 

Guest speaker, Keith Currie President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture shared a few words on agriculture business in Simcoe County.

"There's not many commodities that we don't grow in this great county," he said. "It's just a microcosmo of what we do in agriculture." 

He touched on issues impacting the industry across the country, such as carbon tax. 

"The one thing that I think people don't understand as farmers is when you are fighting against carbon taxes they look at you like you're anti-environment, and anything can be farther from the truth" he said, "We know that what we do in the ground is beneficial to us going forward and to the future of the best industry in the country, in my mind."

The Hamblys noted that the carbon tax can only be passed down to the consumer, if the market allows. Otherwise, the cost is absorbed by the farmers, which is another struggle many in the industry are experiencing. 

Currie noted the indsutry is a large economic driver, looking for ways to deliver opportunities post-COVID. 

"When people think of agriculture and food, they just think about farming, but the reality is 860,000 people work in the food industry in Ontario, six times more than the auto industry," he pointed out. "Almost $50 billion dollars in GDP (gross domestic product) annually."  

Sales and Operations Manager at Gwillimdale Farms, Quinton Woods provided some background on the Marsh and the value it brings to the province. 

"It's quite overwhelming how much value that such a large small growing region brings to the province," he said. 

Executive Director for the Holland Marsh Growers' Association, Jody Mott spoke about the Marsh's growing culture and some of the challenges farmers have faced this year due to COVID-19 and weather. 

"So far we've had three hails, snow and a frost in our growing season," she shared. 

Woods brought up another issue farmers in the Marsh are currently facing: a lack of financial protection, causing some businesses to close. 

"It's being brought even more to light now with COVID," he said, adding that it is the smaller producers being hit the hardest, with some already having to shutdown operations.

Canadian farmers have been asking the government for some sort of financial protection, similar to PACA Trust in the United States, which would prevent them from closing by providing financial protection for growers in the form of a piece of legislation. 

"We shouldn't have to show bankrputcies to get protection," said Woods. 

"Believe it or not, produce bankruptcies are now happening, it's starting with the small guys, and getting to the medium size guys and soon it's going to start taking down the big guys," he warned, noting many small jobbers have already been lost due to COVID.

Davidson reitterated just how much some of the Marsh farmers struggled in the early days of the pandemic, not sure if they would even have grocery stores open to be able to sell their products to. 

"With stores that were closed and working half way, farmers here were just strictly worried about being paid if they planted their fields," said Davidson. "It led to a few farmers not even planting all their fields."

The Hamblys spoke about their experience with the farm since its opening in 2008. 

They were appreciative of the visit, allowing them to share their concerns with the MPs. After the presentation, the group followed John to a carrot field where they were able to meet some of the farmers and see  how the food is grown and picked.

As part of the retreat, the group vwent on to visit other businesses in the county including the Barrie Gun Club, Decast Ltd., and Beatties  Distillers.

Gwillimdale Farms has operations in New Liskeard, Bradford and even Mexico. Their vegetables are sold in Metro, Sobeys and Longo's stores as well as some smaller chains. They have export markets all across the United States, and even the Carribean. 

The farm grows carrots, onions, potatoes, parsnips and beets, which are all packaged on site. 

To learn more about the farm, visit their website here

And for more information on The Holland Marsh Growers' Assocation, check out their website here


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Natasha Philpott

About the Author: Natasha Philpott

Natasha is the Editor for BradfordToday and InnisfilToday. She graduated from the Media Studies program at The University of Guelph-Humber. She lives in Bradford with her husband, two boys and two cats.
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