A southern Ontario U-pick fruit operation has earned a North American award for its web site.
Whittamore’s Farm, which bills itself as one of the largest U-pick and farm market operations in Ontario, earned the “Members’ Choice” award for outstanding web site, during the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association convention in February in Wisconsin.
The 220-acre farm at Markham, just north of Toronto, has been in the Whittamore family since 1804, NAFDMA said in a release. Evelyn and Gilbert Whittamore, whose sons now run the operation, started what was then a small U-pick strawberry and raspberry business in the late 1950s.
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The Whittamores now get almost 200,000 customers a year at the farm, NAFDMA said.
To decide the winning web site, NAFDMA members submitted their sites for review and a consumer panel of judges short-listed the top five, using three criteria: Does the Web site work properly? Is it engaging and appealing to you? and Would you go to their farm or markets?
The association, whose executive includes Ontario farmer Mark Saunders as president and Kerry Engel of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development as secretary, will hold its 2009 convention in Georgia.
