Ontario leads in on-farm direct to consumer sales

J&E Farm Store and Butcher Shop is a Cinderella story for direct-to-consumer farm marketing.

“We were in the right place at the right time. But it wasn’t all based on luck,” said Emma Butler, who operates the business with her husband, Josh.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for their business expansion and the number of farmers who sell direct to consumers is growing. According to the 2021 Census of Agriculture, one in seven Canadian farms sells directly to consumers. Nearly 25 per cent of those farms are located in Ontario.

Why it matters: Selling direct to consumers connects farmers directly to them, and hopefully a higher profit margin on the products they sell.

Butler and her husband’s growth strategy recognized the importance of repeat purchases and focused on capturing, building and maintaining a robust consumer relationship. She said there is a symbiotic relationship between the cash cropping, livestock operation, farm store and newly launched butcher shop, although each is an individual business.

“COVID, in terms of the evolution and logistics of how our business works, changed everything,” said Butler. “We maybe wouldn’t have built a butcher shop four years in, had we not seen those gaps in the other places we relied on to make our business go.”

It catalyzed other changes too, including the addition of an e-commerce platform and province-wide shipping.

“We want to have our fingers in everything because, as an entrepreneur, I want this business to succeed, and I will not give up at all,” she said with a laugh. “There’s no quit.”

Butler said their target demographic ranges from young families to retirees, who generally purchase weekly rather than in bulk.

“We’ve increased across the board in the amount of customers we serve and in the demand,” said Butler.

“Because we are our suppliers for those products, we’ve increased across the board in our beef production, lamb production, and our chicken production.”

Data from the 2021 agricultural census shows that farmer use of direct sales varies, but 60 per cent use a physical shop, whether it’s a farm store, kiosk or u-pick. Approximately half provide delivery to the customer.

Additionally, 96 per cent sell unprocessed products like fruits, vegetables and maple syrup, and 15 per cent of those producers buoy sales with value-added items like pies, sausage and preserves.

Morris Gervais said Barrie Hill Farms in Springwater was an early adopter of the pick-your-own model.

His parents initiated a u-pick model in 1977 on their 200-acre operation.

Until the late 1980s, customers would buy bushels of seasonal fruits and vegetables to can and preserve, said Gervais. Now he needs more traffic on the farm to sell the same product volume and has integrated a cafe to sell pies, preserves, canning, and pickling supplies.

Barrie Hill Farms incorporated seasonally themed events as an extra draw from May until October.

“In October … people can come out and harvest corn fresh off the stalk,” he said. “We’re trying not to be dependent on the wholesale market, and that was the wisdom of my parents. They said no, we’ve got to bring the people here to the farm.”

Gervais has also introduced u-pick asparagus, a popular addition this year that he said gives families the opportunity to create memories and get kids excited about eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

“I’m dependent on local customers who want to support this farm and can afford to pay a little more for quality and freshness,” he said. “The only way forward is to direct market and continue to do a good job, offer fun experiences here, and connect people to their food.”

Bringing families to the farm generates appreciation, awareness and education in a fun and interactive way that reconnects people to their food, said Kevin Vallier, executive director of Farm Fresh Ontario. But he also hopes people support and buy Foodland Ontario logoed produce in grocery stores.

Vallier said changes at the municipal and provincial level regarding red tape and planning regulations would help the next generation on these farms continue these direct-sales businesses.

“Let them grow. Let them expand. Let them be creative so the next generation can obviously make a living,” he said. “But at the same time, keep those prices affordable for consumers.”

Arden Vaughn of Lake Land Meats near St. Catharines said his business had a 50 per cent spike in sales early in the pandemic, but that has since evened out to pre-pandemic levels.

After nearly three decades of providing traditional cuts of meat, farm-raised elk/deer hybrids and locally sourced fish, Vaughn said finding butchers is the biggest challenge.

“It’s been hard with butchers retiring, especially in Niagara. There’s no place anymore to get custom cutting done.

“I drive an hour and a half to go and get pepperettes made, and then I drive to pick them up, and another place makes my sausage. Where can I get rabbits processed or my chicken processed? Good luck.”

That extra cost for those efforts must be covered by consumers.

“People shop with their wallet, and you only have so much money to spend,” she said. That can prevent some folks from buying fresh local products.

Brianna Kristensen’s small-scale online farm shop runs on tight margins. Kristensen, husband Kyle and their two kids raise a dozen beef cows, two pigs, 150 meat birds, 30 turkeys, 23 layers and two horses on a six-acre holding with 30 acres of rented pasture. Along with a produce garden, the animals supply the shop and 75 per cent of the family’s food needs.

During the pandemic, the first-generation farmer began selling to a broader demographic of 40-year-olds from nearby subdivisions and Toronto-area bedroom communities like Bowmanville, Newcastle and Oshawa.

“They’re typically people who want to buy local but also want to make sure animals are treated ethically and want to buy from a smaller farm,” Kristensen said of her grass-fed, pasture-raised products. “I think that appeals to a lot of people.”

She tries to offer harder-to-find popular cuts, like tomahawk and flat iron steaks, and supports nose-to-tail commerce through a group that purchases organ meats and provides cross-platform social media promotion for the farm.

“It really promotes atypical cuts, which is extremely important,” Kristensen said. “I’m not the only producer he buys from, but when he uses my meat, he tags our farm, which really helps us.”

Farm sustainability is the ultimate dream, so no one must work off the farm. So is a clear succession plan for their children through careful expansion that doesn’t outgrow the consumer base.

“We don’t have that much room for risk,” said Kristensen. “We want it to be sustainable. That’s why we’ve grown on a smaller, slower side, and I don’t want to take that kind of risk with my family and their lifestyles.”