Canadian Horticultural Council announces rebrand during 100-year AGM

The Canadian Horticultural Council has changed its name to the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC). The rebrand was announced on Mar. 10 at the CHC’s 100th annual general meeting.

Representing Canadian growers in the production of more than 120 different crops, the newly-named FVGC is the voice of more than 14,000 farms across Canada. Fresh fruit and vegetables currently make up one quarter of Canadian agricultural products.

"As we celebrate our centennial and look forward to the next 100 years, we thought this was the perfect occasion to update our name and logo to better identify who we represent and speak for," said Jan VanderHout, president of FVGC and a third-generation cucumber grower near Hamilton, Ont.

FVGC is an Ottawa-based voluntary, not-for-profit, national association that represents fruit and vegetable growers across Canada involved in the production of over 120 different types of crops on over 14,237 farms, with farm cash receipts of over $5 billion annually.

Since 1922, the organization has advocated on important issues that impact Canada's fruit and vegetable sector, while promoting healthy, safe, and sustainable food, and ensuring the continued success and growth of the industry.

"Our major issues are timely access to labour, rising input costs – some longstanding and some due to the current supply chain issues, access to a robust range of crop protection products, market instability and unpredictability (the current challenges faced by our potato growers in P.E.I is one example), excessive government red-tape and a lack of adequate risk management programs," says Rebecca Lee, executive director, Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada. "The overarching theme with all of these issues is that it negatively impacts our growers’ competitiveness with importing countries, and threatens the sustainability of our sector."

Going forward, FVGC's ongoing priorities are to work with its members and the federal government to address these issues and propose solutions. 

The rebrand is part of a year-long commemoration of FVGC's centennial anniversary that will culminate with a major celebration at the 2023 AGM in Vancouver.