Ontario is a vibrant community of growers, carriers, wholesalers, and retailers who serve the local population and export to the nearby U.S. market and beyond. At the center of Ontario is the Greater Toronto Area, and in Toronto proper is the busy Ontario Food Terminal (OFT). This year, suppliers were hit hard by weather around the world that limited supply and sent prices of some commodities soaring. On the homefront, however, growers were excited by new technology and crop choices to help optimize yields and export opportunities.
OFT Rehab
As the largest Canadian wholesale produce terminal, the OFT was constructed in 1954 on the western edge of Toronto. Occupying a 40-acre tract and home to nearly two dozen wholesalers and 400-plus farmers’ market vendors, the terminal market’s reach is extraordinary: Niagara Falls, NY and the East Coast are across Lake Ontario to the east, while the Great Lakes are a convenient conduit to much of the U.S. Midwest.
The terminal market has completed several renovation projects in recent months, including a covered parking and unloading area, an updated septic system, and construction of a new guardhouse at the entry. Skyrocketing demand for locally-grown products is behind a proposed farmers’ market facility. “This past year, we created the loading area in the buyer’s court and built a bridge linking the north and south loading areas,” confirms Bruce Nicholas, general manager at the OFT. “Our next major project will likely be the new farmers’ market building.”
Big Weather, Big Problems
Over the course of the last year since we last reported on Ontario’s buyers and sellers, growers in California, Arizona, Florida, Mexico, and South America all took hits from Mother Nature, impacting crops. Giorgio Ceciarelli, president of GC Imports Company, Inc. says the roller-coaster weather made prices soar not only at the OFT, but throughout the industry. “We sell mangos, papayas, and avocados that we pack in Mexico, and we saw very large increases in price combined with low yields. In fact, I’ve never seen prices this high—we were seeing $18 to $20 for a case of mangos when $10 a case was already extreme.”
Avocados in Mexico, tomatoes in Florida, lettuce in California, and a host of other commodities were affected by extreme weather, most credited to the departed El Niño cycle. Regardless of the cause, price volatility hit growers and wholesalers then continued along the supply chain to retailers and consumers.
“The price spike had a huge impact,” agrees Anthony Formusa, president of National Produce Marketing, Inc. “There is some price elasticity in mangos, papayas, and other commodities, but there’s a point when that breaks and consumers stop buying. These fruits then become luxury items,” he adds, with consumers opting for staple items instead. “Our volume can go down not only because of a lack of supply, but also price pressure that reduces demand.”
