Tag: Value Added
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Planning your Work and Getting some Quick Wins
In this next entry in our series of blogs on the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ Downtown Revitalization Program, we take a look at preparing your preliminary work plan, and the importance of “quick wins” to the initiative. Before starting to collect and analyze data, you need an overall work plan to…
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How prepared are you when Navigating the Agricultural Economy?
The 10thannual Municipal Agriculture Economic Development and Planning Forum is being held October 3 and 4th, hosted by the County of Wellington and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Explore Wellington County on a bus tour on October 3rd, with local food lunch and dinner included. Learn about different agriculture-related businesses and how…
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6 Reasons Why Your Community Should Undertake a BR+E Project
The most important thing a Business Retention & Expansion (BR+E) project does is build capacity. BR+E is strategically designed to take existing community resources and employ’s its community businesses to help them come together with a plan for the future. 1 Whether you are an economic developer, a chamber of commerce, a local government official,…
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Teeny Tiny Summit with a Great Big Reach
The 7th Teeny Tiny Summit attracted its largest audience ever when the Municipality of Tweed hosted the summit earlier this summer. The first Teeny Tiny Summit was held in 2015, as the OMAFRAs East Region Economic Development staff wanted to support their smallest communities. These communities had several features in common…they were typically small, rural,…
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Tips for Completing your Rural Economic Development (RED) Program Application
The Rural Economic Development (RED) program supports projects that stimulate economic growth in Ontario’s rural communities. RED supports activities that create jobs and help open doors to local economic development. The program helps communities: identify their economic strengths be more competitive diversify and grow their local economies. The program is open and will accept applications…
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Key takeaways from the Succession Planning Community of Practice
On August 16, 2018, participants had the opportunity to hear from four presenters about how communities can support the transition of farm businesses during the Agriculture Economic Development and Planning Community of Practice webinar. Mark Ferguson of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ Business Development Branch began the session with a definition…
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Building a Team for Downtown Revitalization
Continuing with our series of blogs on the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ Downtown Revitalization Program, this entry will take a look at building your downtown revitalization team. The motivation, energy, and commitment required for successful revitalization should come primarily from the community. Those from outside of the community may provide interesting…
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New long-term Research on business start-up and closures in Canada
A recent report from the Government of Canada studied the characteristics and performance of newly established businesses. On average, 96,000 new businesses entered the Canadian economy every year (2002-2014), representing about 9.4% (annual rate) of all Canadian firms. This study is important for economic development officers (EDOs) undertaking business retention activities as it highlights how the Canadian…
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Expanded Digital Main Street Program to Support Ontario Small Businesses
The Digital Main Street program, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and delivered by the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA), will soon be available across the province to help ‘main street’ businesses become more digital. The program will be live on August 24, 2018, and as part of Ontario’s Main…
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Good Fencing Systems Make Livestock Farming Easier
A major limiting factor for beef production in Ontario is the lack of fencing. With the spread of cash cropping across the province in recent years, perimeter fencing has been removed on many farms. Establishing, or re-establishing fencing is one of the first steps to getting into cattle farming. Good perimeter fences are necessary for…