The Guelph Organic Conference and Trade Show was held from January 22-26 this year, and attendance numbers showed a huge enthusiasm in the area for organic foods. 1,500 people came out to the event to mingle with like-minded attendees, explore new organic brands, and learn about local innovations in organic farming.
"Guelph has always been really responsive. The enthusiasm from the local community is great,” says Sarah Devine, events & conference coordinator for Organic Council of Ontario.
Organic Council of Ontario (OCO), “the voice for organics in Ontario,” does advocacy work and provides Ontarians with resources and education about organic products. The organization has an Organic Directory, which contains every certified organic farm in Ontario, as well as retailers, processors, fertilizers and more. Directory listings are free for all certified organic farmers. As part of their education efforts, OCO is also the host of the Guelph Organic Conference.
The free Organic Trade Show is part of the Guelph Organic Conference, and is a great place to learn about everything organic. The conference portion ran from January 22nd - 25th at the University of Guelph, while the trade show runs concurrently, on Friday, January 24th and Saturday, January 25th this year.
The trade show had 70 vendors, and is always free to attend. For those in the area who are dedicated growers, the trade show is actually the spot in Guelph where you can buy seeds at the earliest. There are plenty of free seeds and other free samples, information about community gardens, and many high-quality, natural products for sale that consumers may not be able to find in their neighbourhood. The trade show is also a good stop for business owners looking to source organic products.
The conference sessions are paid, and covered topics like running a viable farm business, promoting healthy plants with biostimulants, and advanced biological farming. There were many new farmers attending this year, including younger farmers and young farming families. “The multigenerational aspect is something that’s really cool about our event,” says Sarah.
It’s also a good opportunity for consumers to speak face-to-face with farmers and growers, asking questions and learning more about the organic products that are available. There are also practical, hands-on workshops for consumers, which OCO wants to continue to expand. This year attendees got to make kombucha, and learn about how they could grow cultural foods —such as tropical produce—in Ontario, something that many people don’t realize is possible.
With their new board of directors, OCO has lots of plans for 2025, including expanding their educational webinars and adding new resources to their website. Their focus is on educating consumers on the health and climate benefits of organics, as well as educating farmers on the process and actual cost of becoming a certified organic operator in Ontario.
For more information on the conference and Organic Council of Ontario, visit here and here.