Farmers Expanding Southern Ontario’s Fruit and Vegetable Sector

Growing More Fruit and Vegetables Close to Home

Fruit and vegetable farmers in Ontario grow a wide range of crops and support significant economic activity, yet Southern Ontario still has room to grow more produce closer to home. Across four farm stories : Nature’s Bounty in Port Perry, Fenwick Berry Farm in Pelham, Berlo’s Best Sweet Potatoes in Simcoe, and Van Raay Farms in Dashwood a clear picture emerges of how farmers have expanded production in ways that reflect their crops, markets, land base, and long-term goals.

As long as we continue to see the demand, we will continue to expand … in order to maintain market share, we have had to grow.
David Klyn-Hesselink, Fenwick Berry Farm

Key Findings

Expansion takes many forms, including intensification, diversification, value-added experiences, storage and processing investments, and new technology, not just more acreage.
Farmers are most confident expanding when demand is clear and buyers are already in view.
Connecting directly with consumers can create a strong local advantage, from farmers’ markets to Pick Your Own operations and Ontario-grown branding.
Collaboration matters. Grower associations, marketing groups, retailers, and OMAFRA all appear as practical sources of support, research, advocacy, and idea-sharing.
Labour, regulation, land prices, utilities, climate pressures, and limited access to affordable technology continue to constrain growth.

The farmers profiled here demonstrate resilience, adaptability, and a strong sense of what expansion looks like in practice. Their operations are different, but the broader lessons are consistent: there are many ways to expand a farm business, connection to the consumer matters, relationships across the sector matter, and growth is strongest when it responds to real demand. Southern Ontario’s fruit and vegetable sector has room to grow, but continued expansion depends on an enabling environment that helps farmers invest, adapt, and compete.