The Rural Voice, 1993-01, Page 28Traditionally, planners in small
rural communities are like
farmers: people are plugging
away in their own separate fields but
too seldom get together to talk over
common problems. At "Stimulating
Rural Economies for the 2000's" the
fourth annual Agricultural and Rural
Restructuring Group conference, held
in Goderich in October, some of that
communication gap was broken
down.
Despite a flurry of attention when
Premier Bob Rae used the conference
to talk on the upcoming constitutional
referendum and brought a horde of
big-time media types trailing in his
wake, the conference delegates
worked generally outside the
limelight, talking about current and
future economic trends that will
affect farms and rural communities
and hearing of success stories from
across Canada of how communities
took their futures in their own hands.
The 125 delegates, about equally
divided between university
researchers, government policy
makers and rural politicians and
development officers, heard a range
of speakers from the academic to the
practical; from a first -night opening
session filled with statistics, to the
first-hand accounts of agricultural
and small-town development success
stories.
The conference highlighted the
problems in rural development
but also some of the success
stories. There was, for instance, the
story of the Indian Agricultural
Program, set up to help finance
Indian farmers (people living on
reserves can't put up their land as
collateral so can't get loans) that has
also developed niche markets for oil
from evening primrose and
Arrowhead Corn Chips processed
from white Indian flint corn flour.
The Arrowhead Corn Chips story
symbolizes the concept of ARRG, to
study and research the problems of
rural areas, then find the solutions.
Wayne Martin, Program Manager for
the Indian Agricultural Program of
Ontario said his group has been
involved in research and
development, taking the product from
the growing stage to the grocery store
shelf. The group has been involved
with the National Research Council
24 THE RURAL VOICE
Turning the rural
economy around
Researchers and planners at ARRG
seek ways for rural residents
to avoid a continued rural decline
and Agriculture Canada in
developing its products. "The
farmers, we hope, are the major
beneficiaries."
There has been such a tremendous
market expansion for evening
primrose oil that farmers off the
reserves have been contracted to help
fill the demand. There are now as
many growers off the reserves as
there are on, Martin said.
The Program leaders are now
trying to decide whether their
Arrowhead Corn Chips should be
aimed at the volume market or the
niche market, Martin says. Research
shows that 80 per cent of the
population eats snack foods but 15
a
4
per cent of the people spend 80 per
cent of the money.
marketing was also key in the
growth of Hillebrand
Estates Winery, Glenn
Hunt, director of marketing for the
Niagara -on -the -Lake company, said.
Now Canada's fastest growing
winery, Hillebrand concentrates on
quality. "We will never be the largest
winery in the country. Our niche
market is the higher quality market."
As such, Hillebrand is the only
winery with a full-time vintner to
ensure quality. The winery also
helped set up the Vintners Quality
Alliance (VQA). The VQA symbol
on a bottle of wine helps give the