On Tuesday morning, 23 Jan 2024, and on our collective behalves, Dave Douglas welcomed Gianfranco Leo and Gary DaSilva as our Guest Speakers. At our hybrid (ie live attendance at R83 with zoom remote attendance) session, they discussed the formation, operations and issues related to Canada’s largest wholesale Fruit and Produce Terminal. Some interesting factual information about the Ontario Food Terminal may be found by going to the 'Read more ..." tab below.
The Ontario Food Terminal is Canada’s largest wholesale Fruit and Produce Terminal. It ranks amongst the top four Terminal Markets in Canada and the United States by volume of produce distributed. At 1,053,612 tons or 2.1 Billion Pounds of produce distributed annually, this volume equates to an average of 5.6 million pounds of fruits, produce and horticultural products distributed daily from this 40 acre site. It is generally agreed that this number could easily be doubled or tripled as deliveries are made from outside facilities that are generated due to the existence of the Terminal. Warehouse and Farmers’ Market tenants make direct deliveries from outside facilities to buyers’ premises as a result of their presence on the Terminal itself.
The Ontario Food Terminal is owned and operated by the Ontario Food Terminal Board (the Board) which is an operational enterprise operating under the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. No public monies are used in the operation of this unique facility as the operation is entirely self-funded from fees charged to the users of the facility.
The Board operates the facility twenty four seven with a total of 45 staff. However, when tenants, buyers and suppliers are added to the number of persons employed either directly or indirectly as a result of the existence of this facility, an employment number in the range of 100,000 people is easily achieved. This number is a relatively conservative number, when one only considers over 5,000 Ontario businesses are buyers at the facility.
The general public who are the ultimate consumers of the fresh fruits, vegetables or horticultural products have a high likelihood of selecting fruits, vegetables or horticultural products that originated from the Ontario Food Terminal.
Currently our distribution range is from Fort Albany in the far north of Ontario to Windsor in the south and as far west as British Columbia, while as far east as Newfoundland. It is not unusual for users of the facility to also send these products into the United States.
