Agriculture Economic Development program │Government of Ontario

Using the Agriculture Economic Development: A Resource Guide for Communities and your advisor’s guidance, you’ll run the program in three stages:

Stage 1: Plant

• This stage prepares your community for the agriculture economic development program. You will:
  • answer questions to determine your community’s readiness for the program
  • use census data to create a snapshot of local agriculture to benchmark and inform your plan
  • form a leadership team that will champion the program with partners and influencers in your community

Stage 2: Grow

• At this stage, you’ll get to know your local agricultural system so you can create an action plan for agriculture economic development. You will:
  • review County and conservation profiles: agriculture, food and business
  • identify the assets in your local agricultural system (farms, processing facilities, storage facilities, transportation, etc.)
  • consult with local partners (farmers and farm employees, agricultural organizations, suppliers, distributors, processors, etc.)
  • analyse trends, challenges and strengths based on what you’ve learned

Stage 3: Harvest

• In the final stage of the program, you’ll develop goals, objectives and an action plan. You will use the resources in our guide to:
  • identify economic development activities your community might deliver
  • assess your community’s ability to deliver these activities
  • set benchmarks to track results