Demos prove fruitful in pushing Ontario greenhouse vegetables

Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG), a Leamington, Ont.- based association representing more than 220 Ontario farmers who produce greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers, has been given $181,000 in government funding to conduct in-store demonstrations in the U.S. over the next two years. The funding comes via Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a five-year, $3 billion investment launched by federal, provincial and territorial governments in April 2013. The program is aimed at ensuring that Canadian producers and processors have the necessary tools and resources needed to innovate and capitalize on emerging market opportunities. The Agricultural Adaptation Council administers GF2 in Ontario. OGVG applied for GF2 funding after running a pilot project showcasing the English cucumber in the U.S. last year. While the English cucumber isn’t well known among U.S. consumers – who tend to be more familiar with field cucumbers – it proved popular in in-store demos. “The U.S. market is very used to field cucumber, and when they have an opportunity to try English cucumber…they get to taste it and see how good a product it is,” said OGVG general manager George Gilvesy. Gilvesy added that in-store produce demonstrations have proven a highly effective sales tool, with research suggesting that as many as half of the people who try a product go on to buy it. “It’s the one tool that is always working, and you can’t do enough of them,” he says. “It is a program that seems to resonate with consumers.” The in-store demo program will run between April and October, and comes at a time when consumers are increasingly health-conscious. Gilvesy expects that OGVG-member products will be demoed at between 4,000 and 8,000 stores, primarily in the Eastern U.S., over the next two years. “In the U.S., where people have never tried English Cucumber, if you convert them and you’ve got them as a customer for life, that’s a real positive for our membership,” said Gilvesy.