While the names of Canada’s patchwork of export programs change every time you run into a provincial boundary, the end result tends to be similar services and resources wherever you happen to farm.
Also the same is that the key to developing export markets is to connect to the right people and ask the right questions.
COUNTRY GUIDE spoke with an agency in Canada’s largest food exporting province to learn how they help farmers and value-added food producers make the leap into export markets.
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Allan Crawley, who manages Ontario Food Exports (OFEX) for the province’s agriculture ministry, suggests that you look for help before you leap. It’s well worth it: About $25 of export sales are realized for every $1 invested in OFEX programs.
OFEX staff help grow exports in a number of ways. They organizing trade missions, for instance, and they exporters prepare for trade shows. OFEX also distributes logistic, financing and other information, and — most importantly — it connects clients to sector specialists.
Last year alone, over 400 Ontario producers and processors from 17 different organizations participated in OFEX events.
Most export-assistance groups have resources for new exporters and their staffs. To fill that need, OFEX offers its long-running “Profit” program. For a few hundred dollars, potential exporters can avoid making costly mistakes and determine if exporting is a good next step.
“It’s so they understand what’s expected of them from the market,” says Crawley. “We’ve had hundred of participants through this program and many of them have gone on to have great success in export markets.”
This two-day event focuses on information for new exporters to the United States, with the first day given over to detailed presentations on how to finance an export venture and how to navigate your way through the details of logistics, trade mark regulations and tax laws. The next day, the group heads to Buffalo, New York, including meetings with representatives from the U. S. Department of Agriculture and a Canadian consultant.
OFEX also provides access to sector officers who are experienced exporter themselves. These sector officers meet with clients individually for open, unbiased discussion. If your idea stinks, they’ll tell you.
For some companies, they’re a conduit for informant about export opportunities and issues. For others, they provide a connection to buyers and will even set up and attend meetings with potential customers. The sector specialists are always looking for trends and new ideas for their clients.
“The biggest bang for their buck is the relationship exporters that can develop with the sector specialist,” says Crawley. “Their sector specialist can become an advocate for them.”
OFEX also organizes incoming trade missions, such as “Street Smart,” where about 40 buyers, primarily from U. S. meet with 80 Ontario food processors. The U. S. buyers tour grocery stores to see first-hand how Ontario’s food industry is responding to consumer trends and developing new innovations, and they meet directly with OFEX clients to see their products and talk.
Crawley’s team will also help companies get better results from food trade shows. At trade shows exporters can connect with a wide variety of prospective buyers. For some people, especially those new to a market, this shotgun approach allows them to present their products to a wider audience of prospective buyers, from brokers to retailers, than they could reach on their own.
If the OFEX group can’t help you directly, they know someone who can — Crawley sent me a 23-page list of contacts from export food brokers, to label regulators, to nutritional specialists.
For more information about OFEX services, check out their website via the main www.omafra.gov.on.casite, and typing OFEX in the search bar. Better still, after reading through the website, click on “Contact Us” and and use it to link to a real person.
Those contacts, says Crawley, are exactly what OFEX is in business to serve.
