Bruce County council has directed staff to join the Ontario Food Cluster.
The OFC is a partnership of 15 municipal governments and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Agribusiness and Agri-Food Canada.
The cluster focuses on food processing investment, which is aimed at providing a cost-effective way to attract and develop leads for agri-food investment in the county.
“This is a great idea to become a member of this,” said Deputy Warden Don Murray, whose municipality of Huron-Kinloss is home to Gay Lea Foods and has agreements for food-grade soybean production. “I think there’s lots of room to expand this type of thing, so I think this is an opportunity to hopefully see some food processing grow in the whole county.”
The Ontario Food Cluster operates on a membership fee model, which means that each partner pays a fee that partially funds the group’s activities.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to be part of an organization that can generate two or three leads a year, to help us attract good quality food processing to Bruce County,” added Warden Luke Charbonneau. “We have an outstanding agricultural industry here in Bruce County, and having processing here just makes sense.”
Each member benefits from approximately $70,000 in lead generation each year.
Charbonneau added, “Hopefully we’ll be accepted as members of the food cluster, and if and when we are, I feel good, it’ll generate some great opportunities for our ag sector in Bruce County.”
